


Through the Dark

by CapsuleCorp



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Injuries, New World (One Piece), Straw Hat Grand Fleet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapsuleCorp/pseuds/CapsuleCorp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ideo and Bluegilly risk their lives for the benefit of their growing crew, and come out of the experience stronger fighters. Takes place 2 months after Dressrosa, with mentions of non-canon events and crew members. Now corrected to "Ideo Pirates" instead of "Triple X Martial Arts Alliance" thanks Oda we love you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Involves situations in a cave so the claustrophobic may want to take caution reading.

Two pairs of feet pounded down the rutted trail, one shorter stride keeping up rather well with one longer stride. Nothing blocked their way and nothing followed, but they still had something to accomplish and the quicker the better, so they ran at full speed across the forested island. They could still hear the boom of cannon-fire behind them and hoped that the new ship with its new accommodations proved herself well in battle. All they could do was trust the ship-to-ship conflict in Jeet and Abdullah’s hands and keep going. It was just a distraction anyway, the real objective for landing here was somewhere up ahead and it fell to captain and vice-captain to carry it out by themselves. “Just what I wanted, today,” Bluegilly said wryly, “a nice jog.”

“Followed up with a spot of rock climbing if we do this right,” Ideo said with a short laugh. “You complaining?”

“Not at all,” the Longleg said brightly, shooting his captain a grin. “I am sort of wondering why we get this part of the plan when all the fighting is going on out on the water, though.”

“You’re no good at firing a cannon,” Ideo retorted. “Besides, there’s no guarantee we’re gonna find it before they finish out there. For all we know they’ve got a landing party, too, and then we’ll have plenty of fighting to do.”

“All right, all right,” Bluegilly sighed as he ran alongside Ideo, occasionally batting low-hanging tree limbs out of his way. “As long as we’re on the right track.”

“The map pointed to the mountain.” Ideo nodded, jabbing his chin toward the rocky crags peeking between the trees ahead of them. “There’s only one mountain, so that’s where we go.”

Two months on the water on their own and the Ideo Pirates were just desperate enough for cash that they were ready and willing to do as pirates do, and hunt down money that wasn’t theirs. There weren’t many legendary treasures in the New World waiting to be dug up, since most of it was either in the hands of an Emperor or being spent in order to survive, so anything they could find was bound to be new money, already claimed by someone else. It had taken hitting the right port and listening carefully in the right bars for a few days, but eventually they hit on information thanks to a rookie crew bragging boldly about their conquest. They had found one of the crews once loyal to Whitebeard who had recently been decimated by the newest warlord and swept in to steal everything they had while they were down, and then stashed it nearby until they could be sure none of the former-Whitebeard commanders would come to avenge their allies and take it back. Jeet had worked his bounty-hunter magic, plying the captain with booze and extremely skillful questioning until he spilled everything and even drew the worst map on a cocktail napkin to go with it. By the time he sobered up and rousted his men out to correct his mistake, the Triple-X crew had already hit the seas. They had their own ship, now, a fine sloop just right for the extra crew they had taken on after their stop at the headquarters of the Central Fighting Tournament, so not only were they capable of navigating to the uninhabited island in question, they sailed fast and hard and reached it a day before their pursuers. As much as Ideo wanted to get this thing found and get the hell out of there, wisely guessing that the other pirates would be on their way shortly, it wasn’t as easy as it looked. It took time to sail around the island to find a place to land, since most of the northern side had nothing but high cliffs at the shores and ship-bashing rocks below, and then they had to explore a bit to determine exactly what the hastily-scrawled map indicated with its wiggly lines and triangles. They had just been about to launch the real salvage operation when the enemy ship appeared on the horizon, necessitating the split-up. Jeet, Abdullah, and their new recruits stayed back to attack and hopefully prevent the others from landing, while Ideo and Bluegilly hastened to find this X-marked cache and abscond with it before the situation could explode into a far worse confrontation. That was why they were running up the trails toward the mountain without any backup, ducking and leaping branches and potholes, confident enough to be teasing each other the whole way.

The track they were following curved abruptly back down away from their destination, so Ideo jogged to the left and shot out one of his long arms to rip foliage out of the way before crashing through it. It would be faster to cut straight up the hillside, if more tiring, but fighters like him and Bluegilly weren’t concerned by a little uphill sprinting. The island wasn’t exactly tropical, and clouds were moving in low on a fast wind, suggesting terrible weather to come, so it was actually a pretty good day for this level of exercise. Both of them were wearing their new crew jackets, the Longarm’s cut to serve the same purpose as his boxing jacket with his arms tucked up into the shoulders, but longer to cover his vitals now that they fought under the black flag rather than in the ring. It was the captain’s indulgence, black athletic wear with stripes on the sleeves and their new Triple-X jolly roger mark on the back, but so far only Bluegilly joined him in this fashion choice. The Longleg himself had wisely opted for actual pants today, even if they only came down to the knee, for there was no telling what they might find when they reached this cave the enemy captain spoke of. Side by side in matching coats and kung fu shoes, they ran flat-out the whole way, breaking from the underbrush into a clearing and loping through fields of waist-high weeds and grass as they drew ever nearer to the mountain. By now they had left the sea behind and the occasional thunder of cannon fire grew faint and distant, giving them no clue as to how the battle below progressed. The rolling slopes began to rise steeply from there, and soon enough they were actually climbing instead of running, hauling themselves up a rough cliff face to come out far above the tree line. That seemed like a good enough place to stop and reconnoiter, so they paused to catch their breath and have a look around. From that vantage point they could see the blue haze of the sea around the rim of the island, and though the ships weren’t visible, they could tell from the terrain which way the beach lay. There was no doubt, now, that a storm was moving in off the sea, but neither man knew enough about the weather to be able to guess how soon or whether it would affect their mission. They had no food along, and though Bluegilly had a small pack on his back, they hadn’t brought supplies to get them through a night or two of camping. They hadn’t expected to be away that long. But neither seemed particularly concerned as they stood together on the top of the cliff, gazing out at the view below. “Shit, I hadn’t realized how far we came up already,” Ideo noted, setting his hands on his hips. “We’re a good halfway up the mountain.”

“Guess that means we should start looking for this cave entrance,” Bluegilly reasoned, turning around and studying the slope ahead of them. Only a few sparse, wind-ravaged trees clung to the sides of the mountain this far up, but there was still plenty of grass and low-growing shrubbery covering the slopes in a thick green carpet. It was still some distance up toward the summit, yet, before the green gave way to barren rock, but it didn’t seem like they would need to climb all that way. “What did the guy say, now? Which side of the mountain is this cave on, anyway?”

“Dunno. Jeet couldn’t get a clear answer out of him on that.” Ideo gestured for him to step back over, so he could dig in the pack on his back and find what he wanted. The sketchy map had been right so far, in terms of where to land and where the mountain lay, but the big X marking the treasure spot only indicated the mountain itself, nothing more. Ideo held it spread over his gloved hand in order to squint at it and then frowned at the lack of information. “All I know is that it’s supposed to be a cache in a cave at the end of a tunnel,” he reported, “nothing more specific than that.”

“Ah, shit,” Bluegilly lazily complained, looking over his shoulder at the crude map. “It’s gonna take all day to search every inch of this damn mountain for a cave. Didn’t the guys find anything yesterday when we were crawling all over this island?”

Ideo scrunched up his lips as he thought, practically pouting. “Don’t think so, but look.” He gestured to the shoulder of the mountain just beyond their position. “The mountain’s right on the edge of the sea, here. So it’s not like we can find a cave on that side anyway.”

“So half the mountain, then.” Bluegilly turned to let him stuff the map back into the pack. “Time’s wasting, let’s get moving.”

They had made it to a convenient shelf, so they started there, hiking at a regular pace instead of running. Every clump of rubble or dark shadow drew their eyes until they were tired of getting excited and then disappointed, but before either could suggest climbing up even higher, Bluegilly spotted it – a yawning gap, very clearly not a shadow, in a cleft between knife-like spurs of rock. Leaning into the entrance to verify that it went deep, they high-fived each other and then set to work. Before heading out, Abdullah had insisted that they bring something for light as well as water, but the last time they had filled their flasks was far down below and there was no sign of any fresh sources up this high. More important was the torch; Bluegilly found an appropriate chunk of wood, wrapped some cloth around one end, and cracked open the matches to light it. It was time for adventure.

The tunnel dove straight into the side of the mountain with few twists and no branches to either side, tall and wide enough for the two pirates to walk abreast without ducking. The flickering light from the torch was enough to keep them from stumbling on the rough floor, and so long as there weren’t any forks in the road, this seemed to be the easiest treasure hunt ever. There was a bit of a spring in Bluegilly’s step as he walked, idly looking around the side walls and roof of the passageway. “Definitely looks like the kind of place someone would stash a prize,” he mused, scratching his chin with his free hand. “Not that I’m any kind of expert.”

“Who hides their money in a cave in these days, anyway?” Ideo snorted. “I get that they were paranoid that some Whitebeards would come after them, but still. You can’t spend it when you hide it.”

Bluegilly barked a quick laugh. “Let me guess – every tournament prize you’ve ever won was spent by the next morning.”

Ideo grinned recklessly. “More or less. Seriously, though, am I wrong?”

“Nah, I get you. If they were really smart, they’d have cashed it in right away. Stacks of beli are much easier to hide than chests of gold and shit.” Imagining it made him laugh again. “I can’t believe it’s actually gold and jewels like in the stories. Who’d have thought?”

“I swear, if that guy was still lying through his teeth even when Jeet had him drunk off his ass, I’ll go right back out there and pound him flat myself.” Ideo’s focus was on his crew’s needs, and right now, this was their best lead. Waylaying other ships and stealing their cargo seemed to be far more difficult to do in the New World, since you never really could tell whether a ship was under someone’s protection and filching cargo could bring the wrath of an Emperor down on your head if you weren’t careful. As much as he was ready and willing to test his limits against the powerful players in these seas, Ideo didn’t want their first adventure as a real crew to be their last. He had newbies to look after, plus he and the rest of the core crew of the Ideo Pirates were still considered snot-nosed rookies by nearly everyone who mattered. Thus, it was faster and easier for them to go after this promised treasure cache, now, while they had the chance, and save the bigger, badder exploits for later when they were more prepared. He looked to Bluegilly as they hiked together through the easy-to-travel cave. “Either way, there’s something up with this place, all right. They came after us pretty quick.”

“Well, considering their captain actually handed us a map to his trove, I’m not surprised,” the vice-captain said with the smuggest of grins. “You’re right though, they didn’t waste any time at all. Should give the other guys a real workout.”

“Good. They needed one.” Ideo kicked a loose rock out of his way, listening to it clatter all the way up the length of the tunnel. “We could’ve just kept going as just the four of us, but now they’re part of our crew, they gotta pull their weight.”

Bluegilly regarded him in interest, wondering at his tone and the slight furrow to his brow. They had gone so far into the tunnel by now that the only light they had was the flickering flame of their torch, no more natural light could reach them. In that warm glow, he could still see Ideo make that stern face that seemed to always accompany deeper thoughts. “Now’s not the time to second-guess taking them on,” he said to try to draw out an explanation.

Ideo shook his head. “I’m not, I swear. But they joined up just because they knew either me or you from the circuit, I can’t help but wonder if they realized what they were getting into.” He flicked a glance toward his companion without turning his head. “They didn’t see what we did, on Dressrosa.”

“I don’t think it matters,” Bluegilly said honestly. “We don’t have any more experience than they do when it comes to being pirates. Besides.” He gently nudged Ideo’s arm with his free hand. “Every big shot was a rookie, once. They all started out same as we did, and survived by the skin of their teeth to become veterans somehow. It just takes the tenacity not to die and the will to get stronger so you won’t.” A hint of a smile crept back onto his face, as he remembered Ideo saying pretty much the same thing more than once, as a reasoning behind his heart’s desire to become far stronger than any tournament champion could ever be. The way Bluegilly saw it, they already had most of the tools they needed for the journey ahead. “As long as they come through their first sea battle all right, then I’m sure they’ll all be just fine.”

Ideo wasn’t so sure one battle was enough to clue their new guys in to this new life they had chosen, but he also wasn’t going to cast any of them aside. They had been nothing but baldly honest when they made the offer of a life of piracy to the fighters hanging around tournament headquarters, so anyone who took them up on it wasn’t exactly going in blind. It had caused a hell of a stir, the reigning New World champion and the man spoken of as his next big rival or potential champion publicly resigning and turning the echelons of the tournament circuit on their heads by announcing that they had become pirates. A lot of the younger fighters who witnessed it and knew either Ideo or Bluegilly from brushes in the ring followed them out to their ship demanding a real explanation, but in the end, only four or five had stayed long enough to decide, on their own, that they didn’t want to labor in obscurity and have half their meager winnings stolen by unscrupulous managers all for the fleeting chance that they may, someday, attain a level of power that would net them even a single championship somewhere on the circuit. Whether or not they had been swayed by the romanticism of a pirate’s life, they had made their own choices, and Ideo had accepted them as his crew. Perhaps the battle still raging down in the harbor below them would serve as a wake-up call, but he doubted any of them would actually back out after the first taste of reality. If anything, it would mold them into real pirates. So, the least he could do for them was collect this treasure and bring it back to outfit the ship and crew with everything they needed. So far it seemed like an easy enough task, the tunnel was almost too easy to walk along and nothing really stood in their way. Before he could think up a new topic to chat about while they hiked, though, Ideo was sure he saw something ahead that could be trouble. He held out a hand to slow Bluegilly beside him and then pointed to the shadow across the tunnel floor. “What’s that?”

“Looks like…” Bluegilly raised the torch a bit so that its light would fall full across the entirety of the broad tunnel. “…a big crack.”

“No shit.” Ideo could see that for himself from a distance. He kept going right up to its edge and peered down into it, finding that it ran fairly deep. The darkness in its depths swallowed all light, even that from the torch, so that neither could really see to the bottom. He hunted around for another loose stone and pitched it in, listening to it rattle and clack from one side to the other until the noise eventually trailed off to an unsatisfying conclusion. “Yeah, that’s not just a crack,” the captain said in warning. “You fall down there and you’re never coming out.”

Breathing a huff under his breath, Bluegilly waved the torch ahead of them. “Getting across isn’t gonna be a picnic either. I bet I can jump it with a running start, but I don’t know about you.”

“The tunnel keeps going, though, right?” They could both see that from where they stood. The fissure slashed right across their path and had even taken out part of the wall on one side, but there was no indication that this was some kind of dead end or bend in the path. The tunnel continued onward into the darkness beyond the gap as wide and straight as ever. Ideo frowned at the obstruction as he considered his skills and strength, and then looked around at their options. “Eh, I think I can get across. Just stay out of my way.”

“All right,” Bluegilly said smartly, immediately backing up a few steps and running at the fissure, springing at the edge and effortlessly leaping across. His long legs carried him well past the far edge, and he stood there with the torch like some kind of gladiator statue, beaming proudly at his mad jumping skills. “Your turn!”

Ideo flipped him off, first, and then backed up a bit more, gathering himself with muscles flexed. He needed to be a little more careful with his timing, but he was sure he had this, no problem. Using the flame in the distance as his mark, he kicked off and dashed at a diagonal, heading more for the wall than the fissure proper. One powerful leap was all it took and then he was running sideways along the wall for a short distance, enough to clear the crevice and land easily on the other side. He matched his comrade’s cocky grin as he returned to his side. “See? No sweat.”

“Ooh, fancy,” the Longleg teased him. “Maybe you should learn to be a ninja or something.”

“Don’t even joke about that!” Ideo gasped. “That would be _cool_. C’mon.” He gave Bluegilly a hearty rap on the arm. “That crack must have opened up after those idiots brought their treasure here. Maybe they won’t be able to get across the way we did, that gives us the advantage. Let’s get moving and get to it while it’s still light outside.” 

Neither of them worried about the path ahead, it was so obvious and clear with nary a fork to either side. It seemed to be driving more or less straight into the heart of the mountain, sloping a little downward but mostly level. They didn’t even have to think about what they were doing, all they had to do was keep their eyes open for any more fissures. As they went they bantered a little between themselves, their spirits high and confidence bolstered by the way they agilely crossed the first obstacle. It couldn’t possibly have been the only snag in the journey, but as long as the rest were as easy as that one, both were completely certain they would not only find this secret treasure but carry it out on their backs and be waiting at the beach for their ship to come and pick them up before nightfall. Their conversation trailed off after a bit and still they soldiered on with no change to the path or their situation. After a lengthy silence, Ideo grunted to himself. “This is taking a long time.”

“I guess if you’re gonna hide a treasure, you have to hide it deep,” Bluegilly reasoned with a shrug.

The Longarm captain had no response to that, but he started to wonder. Just how deep did this tunnel run? It just kept going and going, they were well underground by now and had no idea how many miles they had gone in. It might have been his imagination, but he also could have sworn it was starting to get warmer rather than cold and clammy like one expected out of a cave. At last, something ahead of them changed, and for a moment both were glad for some small proof that the tunnel didn’t just go on and on forever. The great, black maw ahead of them no longer resolved into more tunnel as soon as the torchlight hit it, but rather, there was a hole that simply stayed dark, possibly a doorway or entrance to a chamber. As they reached it, Ideo put his hand on the edge of the wall and ducked cautiously through it, feeling like beyond there was only great, empty blackness. As they hiked they had been able to feel the close parameters of the passageway almost by instinct, the ceiling was about a foot above Bluegilly’s tall head and the walls were still an arm’s reach to either side of them even when they weren’t touching the rock, but the yawning chasm beyond that hole disappeared above, below, and to all sides of them. “Oi!” he called out, and heard his voice echo. Ideo turned to his comrade with a raised brow. “Well, that’s different.”

“Be careful,” his vice-captain warned. “A giant hole like that, there’s no telling what’s in there. One wrong step and you’ll be in the center of the world in no time.”

“Well, then, bring the light up,” Ideo exhorted him. “Let’s see what’s in there.”

“Fine, fine…” A wave of the torch showed them where the floor extended straight through the hole and into the great space beyond, so they both edged forward one step at a time, making sure to look before moving, until they had both passed through the gap and felt the walls fall away behind them. Ideo stumbled as his foot found yet another rock, but it squeezed from beneath his shoe and went skittering away into the darkness, bouncing a couple of times before it vanished over an unseen edge and even the noise of its tumbling was swallowed up by a greater silence. Bluegilly held the torch high, but realized rather quickly that he didn’t need to – a faint light filled the chamber far beyond the meager reach of his flame, barely enough to see by but existent nonetheless. It was just enough to allow them to see the lip of the rocky ledge in front of their feet, fortunately, lest either of them take one more step and pitch over the edge. The echo from the rock Ideo kicked had already faded away, but they could tell now that they were definitely in a larger chamber inside the mountain. “A cave?” Bluegilly wondered. “Does this mean we’ve found it?”

Ideo stepped to the rim of the ledge silhouetted against the dim light of the chamber and peered over, his brow furrowing deeply. “Only if the treasure cache disappeared into that chasm. If so, we’re screwed.”

Bluegilly joined him and let out a quiet grunt of concern. Below them by a good fifty feet at least, they could see the source of the faint light: the red glow of embers simmering between patches of charcoal-black tar, a twisted and foul ribbon stretching across the bottom of the chasm. Far from a cave, this wide chamber was the result of another fissure opening beneath the floor, this time large enough to swallow chunks of the mountain and open a huge cavern right across their path. Both men stared down into the depths, a sense of dread beginning to grow around the edges of their senses. “You gotta be shitting me,” Bluegilly breathed after a bit. “Is this place a volcano?”

“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” Ideo fanned himself with one hand – the heat wasn’t overpowering, but the longer they stood staring over the cliff into the half-congealed lava, the more he could feel it. “At least from the inside. Not so much from the outside, I couldn’t tell. Could you?”

“No,” Bluegilly admitted. “The whole mountain’s covered in trees and grass, there’s no sign that there ever was a volcanic eruption here. Unless…” His brow furrowed with a pensive frown. “If it’s been dormant for a long time, decades or centuries even, that’d fool everyone into thinking it was just a plain old mountain.”

Ideo snarled to himself. “Including those idiots from that other crew. They went and hid their stash inside a volcano without even knowing it. And now we’ve hit a dead end.”

“Maybe not.” Lowering the torch, since it wasn’t doing them any good at all in that position, Bluegilly let his keen eyes adjust to the faint glow of the lava and then pointed straight across from them. The other side of the chamber was at least twice as distant as the chasm was deep, but there was fairly clearly a large, dark spot on the far wall at roughly the same height as their current position, looking distinctly like another hole. “There, see? The tunnel goes on from here. I bet it keeps right on going through the mountain, or would if this lava-river hadn’t opened up right across the path.”

Ideo followed his pointing, squinting at the gaping black hole. “Maybe you’re right,” he grumbled, “but if that’s the case, we’re still screwed. That’s gotta be at least a hundred meters away from here, and we’ve got nothing but a pit of molten lava between us and it.”

Bluegilly tossed his free hand to the side to smack his captain in the arm. “C’mon, where’s your sense of adventure? I bet we can find a way across. I mean, what’s the alternative – go back out there and admit that we couldn’t find it? Let those rookie assholes have a chance at getting their treasure back?”

Ideo didn’t care about losing face in front of any assholes, rookies or not, but the challenge to his courage made him bristle back at his vice-captain. “Sense of adventure, huh? Fine, then. Start looking around. See if there’s any path or stable rocks or something.”

Propping the torch in a crevice to mark their starting point, Bluegilly went off to the right, cautiously feeling with his toes to map out the edge of the cliff on which they stood and seeing how far it went. Ideo took the left, keeping one hand on the wall from which they had emerged and prowling along to figure out the full length and surface area of the cave floor on this side. The heat became more obvious and oppressive the further they moved from the tunnel mouth, and the reek of sulfur wafted up from the lava below whenever they peeped over the edge. Here and there the rock at the very rim of the cliff crumbled beneath their feet and went cascading down, only to disappear without a sound into the molten floor of the chasm. It was easier to tell, now, that even if the lava wasn’t running like a river or even bubbling much, and large patches of it had already formed a thick, black skin, the entire bottom of the cavern was too hot for anything organic to even touch. The simple stone vanished without a trace, what would it be like for them to even try to set a foot there? Clearly, the way across was not down. Ideo found nothing that could help on his end, the vent had opened from this side and as a result, the rocky rubble all led downward into that hellish pit. Even attempting to test his footing at the very top of the landslide sent more scree rumbling down into the lava. He gave it up as a bad idea and went back to see how Bluegilly was faring, finding him at the farthest point of the ledge leaning out to squint at the adjacent wall. The cavern curved away from their tunnel mouth in a wide, concave wall that seemed to more or less lead to the other tunnel point. As he felt his comrade come up beside him, the Longleg pointed out a few items of interest. “We might be able to climb sideways across the rock face, here. Look, there’s a ledge over there, and another one beyond that.”

Ideo set his hands on his hips and huffed. “You any good at rock climbing?”

“No better or worse than I am at anything else physical.”

“All the same.” He was really starting to feel the heat, so Ideo pulled his shoulders out of his jacket and peeled it off his back, tying it around his waist, and then took off his gloves and tucked them in his belt. His hands were already sweaty from being inside them, so he dried them off on his pants before cracking his knuckles and then stretching his extra-long arms. “Let me go first. I’ve got the right tools for a job like this.”

Bluegilly watched him, doing his best not to ogle, and then realized almost belatedly that he, too, was starting to overheat in his crew jacket. He mirrored his captain, taking it off and knotting it around his waist. “No arguments here. We’ve got no choice but to go forward anyway, if we want to find this damn treasure.”

He still had the pack, which carried their water flasks and the matches, but had to go back and get the torch since they’d probably need one once back in the tunnel on the other side, and there was no way to find or make a new one. He extinguished it to preserve its lifespan and have an easier time carrying it, and then stuffed it into his back pocket. Ideo, meanwhile, limbered up and then made use of his extra reach to grope across the rock face looking for handholds that couldn’t be easily seen in the half-light of the cavern. He found one he liked, dug his fingers in, and then dared to let his feet slide off the ledge to dangle in midair. With his powerful hands and arms, he had no trouble holding himself up like that until he could find another, mindful that anything he found easy to reach would be harder for Bluegilly to grab. Conversely, Bluegilly had the extra height to be able to stretch out and find that first handhold, once the Longarm had moved on. Together they inched across the cave wall, making the best use of their unique body shapes to find tiny grips to cling to and toeholds to brace against. As they went, any last traces of fresh air from the tunnel were swallowed completely up by the stifling heat and sulfurous fumes welling up from below them, and in due time they were both dripping with sweat. It didn’t deter them, though now and then Bluegilly paused to try to wipe his face on his arm in order to get his dampened locks out of his eyes. Ideo pressed on with hardly a hitch, until he was about halfway across and took an extraordinarily long time patting down the wall in search of another handhold. There was absolutely nothing within a normal range, so he extended his arm out to its full length and tried that instead. Grunting with the effort, he stretched to his furthest, even going up onto his toes, and finally his palm came to rest over a ledge wide enough for his hand to get a real grip. As he did, he looked back to see how far he had to sprawl just to reach it, and knew Bluegilly would never be able to. He looked back at his comrade, gritting his teeth to push past the strain and think of a way out of this. “…not good.”

“What is it? You okay, there?” Bluegilly wondered, peering past his own arm to gauge the situation. “Shit! Don’t fall!”

“I’m not gonna fall!” Ideo snapped back. “There’s nothing closer, this is all I can reach.” He looked back and forth between his far hand and Bluegilly’s worried expression, running through his options quickly and then scowling in determination. He would not let either of them down, here. “We’ll have to risk it. Ready?”

Bluegilly nodded once. “Tell me what you want.”

“I’m gonna grab onto that ledge with both hands,” Ideo explained, tipping his chin up to indicate where his left hand had a secure hold. “When I do, grab onto my legs.” 

The blue eyes peering at him from around his arm narrowed in displeasure. “Now’s not the time to turn into a circus act.”

“It’s our only chance!” Ideo insisted. “I’ve got the strength, I can manage to hold both our weight.”

“It’s not your arms I’m worried about,” Bluegilly growled, “it’s the rock. What if it gives way?”

Ideo had not considered that. His fingers scrabbled a bit on the ledge to make sure it was safe, but he couldn’t guarantee that with both of them hanging off that spot that it would remain so for long. He looked further out, and was certain he could see one of the ledges they had spotted from the other side. “Over there. Think you can reach that?”

“Huh?” Bluegilly had to push himself out a bit in order to look past his captain’s muscular bulk, but his eyes had completely adjusted to the wan light of the cavern and he could see everything as clear as day, now. “Oh, I see now. Maybe? I won’t know until I’m closer.”

“I told you – we just gotta risk it.” Ideo turned his head back to give his companion a solemn look. “Because I don’t think we can go back, now.”

Bluegilly met his eyes and breathed a short sigh. “Right. All right, then, get to it.”

Ideo’s shoulders heaved as he took a deep breath and then he pushed off, throwing his other long arm across the gap and grabbing onto the ledge. His feet swung completely free, there was no toehold anywhere near his position. His back flexed with the strain as he maneuvered himself a few inches over to make sure his grip was secure, and then he let his arms take the brunt of it. Bluegilly edged over to where he had been a moment before, noticing that the last handholds were indeed that far away, and then steeled himself to make this ridiculously dangerous leap. Neither of them were going to have an easy time of it – he could just picture the stress he was about to put on his captain’s body, yanking on it like that, but at the same time, if he didn’t time it well and missed…well. He didn’t want to think about that. He focused his gaze squarely on Ideo’s firm ass, bunched his long legs beneath him to prime them to spring, and then gave one great _kiai_ as he kicked off his foothold and threw himself at his target. His arms slammed into Ideo’s back and then slid instantly to grab around his waist; fortunately, the battle cry had been enough warning for Ideo to brace himself for impact, so aside from a huge grunt as his chest banged hard into the wall, he bore it well. But the instant additional weight dragged on his arms, he flexed both his upper and lower biceps and it still hurt. Snarling through his gritted teeth, he willed himself to hang on for as long as it took, not looking down at all. Bluegilly was safe for now, but he needed to hurry in order to get to the next ledge. He glanced to find it with his eyes first, and then began to swing himself over exactly like an acrobat, stretching one long leg out to try to get a toe onto the ledge. It wasn’t enough, he was a hair too short to cross that distance. Without even thinking he loosed his grip and slid down Ideo’s body until he was only hanging onto his legs, bending his own to push them both into a trapeze-like pendulum swing. He had the distance, now, he just needed the momentum. One, two, three more swings and then he let go, leaping into the air and throwing himself fully at the wall. His long legs saved him, he found the ledge with his feet and then tensed his muscled thighs to keep his balance, allowing him to scrabble at the wall with his hands until he was braced and stable. Only then did Bluegilly let out a relieved laugh, sagging with his face against the rocky wall. “Holy shit!”

The swinging had strained Ideo’s arms almost to the breaking point, and now his chest was scraped from rubbing against the rock, but that laugh filled him with such a sense of relief that all he could do was rest his forehead on the wall and breathe deeply. “You good?”

“I’m alive,” Bluegilly acknowledged, feeling around with his toes and finding that this ledge was actually wide enough for him to stand on. He turned around and braced his back against the rock instead, taking a moment to just rest and then look up at where his comrade still dangled. At least now he had a much better idea of the distance. “Your turn to trust me, Ideo.”

“Eh?” Ideo lifted his head and peered down at him. “What do you mean?”

“I’m lower than you are,” Bluegilly pointed out. “I’m pretty sure you can reach out and grab me, but you’re gonna have to take a leap of faith to get to me.”

Ideo gauged the gap for himself, inched his hands all the way to the very last end of the little ledge he was hanging from, and then took a chance, dropping his left arm to stretch out to his vice-captain. Bluegilly braced his back fully against the wall and reached back, finding that their fingers just barely brushed one another. He repositioned while Ideo secured his own hold again, and then they tried a second time, this time able to clasp each other’s hands. Ideo was now more or less stretched from one ledge to the other by his own long arms, there wasn’t even a way to brace his knees or toes against the wall to help. His heart felt like it had crawled up into his throat in an attempt to choke him with fear, but he bit it down and placed all of his will and faith in Bluegilly. Not that he didn’t already trust the Longleg with his life, but this was a particular and specific instance in which the slightest misstep would kill them both. His brown eyes found the blue ones across the gap and locked on, so that they didn’t even need to say a word to signal one another. Faces grim, they took one more deep breath each, and then Bluegilly nodded. Ideo kept his eyes steady as he pushed away from the ledge with his right hand, and for a heartbeat’s pause he was simply floating at the apex of a free-fall. Bluegilly instantly hauled back on his arm, scraping himself across the wall as he backed away to make room for a second body on the ledge with him. Hand over hand he reeled Ideo’s long arm in as Ideo flung his other hand across the gap to grab onto Bluegilly’s shoulder. It wasn’t quite fast enough, he slammed into the ledge with his gut, but a quick flex of his abdomen saved him the worst possible damage. Bluegilly held on with both hands, giving him a chance to haul himself up, though he assisted with a yank at the end which happened to pull his comrade straight into his arms. They stood for a moment panting hard, their breaths rasping in their throats from the exertion and the rank, heated air, and then Ideo let out a similar chuckle of amazement. They had done it! They were safe, relatively speaking, and they were that much closer to their goal. Ideo peeled himself off of Bluegilly and leaned his back against the wall in the same manner, taking advantage of the ledge to rest and let his legs do the work for a bit. He inspected himself after taking that hit and found deeper cuts raking across his abs and chest, but they weren’t bleeding too badly. “Fuck me, that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” he complained, trying to catch his breath.

Bluegilly snickered at him. “It worked, though. Now what?”

“Good question.” Ideo tipped his head back in order to look up along the wall. They were below the tunnel entrance, but not by much, and there was no handy ledge at the mouth on this side. “It looks like we can climb straight up from here.”

“Shit, it’s even hotter,” the Longleg noted, peeping briefly over the edge to see how close they were to the lava, now. “I dunno about you but I’d feel better resting up there rather than down here.”

“Yeah…” As much as his battered body needed a break, Ideo couldn’t pause here. It felt like every breath he took burned his lungs, they needed to get up there where it was cooler. Bluegilly was now technically in front, but he had gotten the hang of climbing and if they were going mostly upward rather than sideways, his long legs would come in handy. He leaped to grab another handhold and pulled himself up from there, letting Ideo follow at his own pace. The two of them clambered like misshapen spiders up and to the left until Bluegilly pushed off a foothold to grab the lip of the tunnel entrance, dragging his tall form all the way up and inside. Ideo shot his long arms up to do the same, and at long last they were on the other side. The air inside the tunnel was no less stagnant but definitely cooler, and as they crouched there together, breathing hard and drenched in sweat, they looked across to see where they had started from. It looked so far away, now, and both silently realized that Ideo was right: there was no going back. Trying to traverse that gap going the opposite way would only end in a plunge into the lava. Bluegilly fished out their water flasks, and both nearly drained them before realizing they weren’t finished yet and should probably save some. There was nothing in their pack to bind up injuries, or even wipe clean, so they resigned themselves to getting through the rest of this journey sweaty, dirty, and bloody. Ideo sat against the tunnel wall with his long arms flopped in front of him while Bluegilly packed everything away and lit the torch again. “Ready to keep going when you are.”

The flare of the torch flame in the darkness made them both flinch away for a moment. “Ready,” Bluegilly assured. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” Ideo insisted, picking himself up. “Let’s get to the end of this damn cave and find that stash.”

Neither of them wanted to think about how they were going to get the treasure out of the cave, if that was the only way in, but they couldn’t back out no matter what. Forward was all they knew, and they went together, Bluegilly holding the torch ahead of them and Ideo feeling his way along the wall with one hand. He was still too hot and sweaty to put his jacket back on, so he left his arms loose for now. This time, they didn’t chatter as they went, for after such a brush with danger, both had grown solemn as well as tired. They pressed on with all determination, still able to walk side by side though closer now, shoulders brushing occasionally. As they went, they both noticed that the tunnel began to slope downward subtly, the going was easy for some distance but then they started to stumble on loose rock on the floor here and there. If the passage narrowed at all, it was as subtle as the slope, and they only noticed when they actually bumped into each other while trying not to brush against the walls. At that point Bluegilly went ahead with the light, so they could see any of these obstacles coming before finding them with their toes. It felt like they had been walking for hours, and their way was gradually growing more hazardous. Then came the first real stroke of terror, something neither expected though both should have considered it a possibility the further and deeper they hiked into the volcanic mountain’s heart. The light from the torch fell on it first from a distance, but neither wanted to believe it true until they were standing right before it, brushing their hands over it: a pile of rubble, completely blocking the tunnel. It didn’t take an expert in geology to know that those rocks weren’t going anywhere, there would be no digging themselves out – they were tight, wedged against each other as well as the tunnel walls. Ideo swept his fingers along some of the exposed jagged edges and then rubbed them together, finding no loose dust at all. The rockslide had to have happened some time ago, it wasn’t fresh. “Well,” Bluegilly said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice and failing utterly, “now what?”

Ideo gave him a sharp look and then pulled back his arm, forming a fist. “What do you think?”

Bluegilly startled. “You’re going to punch your way through it? What if you bring the whole goddamn mountain down on our heads?!”

“You got a better idea?” Ideo shot back. “Look, we don’t have time to sit here and pick a hole through it rock by stupid rock, and we can’t go back. Maybe it’ll destroy the whole tunnel, maybe it won’t, either way be ready to run as soon as it’s clear.” He pushed his comrade back out of his way and faced the blockage directly, coiling his right arm up and back. “It’ll be low-power anyway,” he noted.

Bluegilly eyed him, but it was true that they had no choice. He wasn’t even sure he was powerful enough to kick a hole in the rocks, but his captain’s top technique would do it. Low power, indeed, he wasn’t wearing his jacket which helped to enhance the kinetic energy of his punches, nor his gloves. Still, the Longleg ground his heel into the rocky floor, ready to kick off with a burst of speed should the whole tunnel start to collapse. Ideo took a deep breath to center himself, drew his long arm into the right position, and then snarled out, “Destruction Cannon!” The explosive punch filled the tunnel with shards of rock and choking dust, but to their genuine relief, the weakened punch had only cleared the blockage and not extended to the rest of the tunnel. The passageway beyond was strewn with even more rubble, but none of it stood in their way. Ideo shook out his hand and then led the way through the gap he had made. “Can’t remember the last time I did that without my gloves on,” he complained.

“For fuck’s sake, don’t hurt yourself,” Bluegilly griped right back, ducking through the hole and following him with the torch raised high to show the blast debris littering the tunnel all the way down its length for several yards. “Put your gloves back on if it’s that much trouble.”

“I told you, I’m fine!” the captain snapped without thinking, and then pulled back, glancing over his shoulder at his companion. “Sorry, it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bluegilly demurred softly. “I get it. This is a shitty situation for both of us.”

“Doesn’t mean I gotta jump down your throat,” Ideo said gruffly. “We’re in this together, after all.”

“Yeah, we are.” Bluegilly hastened his step to catch up, laying a hand on Ideo’s arm to slow him and then get in front of him, meeting his gaze for a moment as he passed. “We got each other’s backs, so don’t worry.”

Ideo let him get back in front with the light and then fell into step behind him, going silent again. During their time together so far, forming their crew and really getting it built into something the fleet could be proud of, he and Bluegilly had kept up their arrangement, and somehow managed to keep it private from the others. The bond between them had strengthened because of it, they were the closest of friends first and foremost and captain and vice-captain after that, lovers came further down the list. Still, it wasn’t a romantic entanglement, or so Ideo would insist until he was blue in the face. Feelings weren’t involved, at least none that weren’t also common to best friends and tight crewmates. He could say so all he wanted, and yet there were occasionally moments like this, where one of them said something that went a bit too far, and the urge to assuage any hurts and make up for any conflicts flared up in his chest. He pushed it aside now as mere concern for their mutual well-being and jittery nerves from the situation. Aside from the torch it was black as death in the tunnel, the air did not move and the scenery never changed, except perhaps for the quantity of rubble tripping them up as they hiked. It was enough to make even the strongest, bravest person a little nervous, particularly if that person were to start thinking about whether this tunnel actually came out anywhere or if it just dead-ended in whatever cave held the treasure cache, or if the cache were even real. No, it had to be real – there wouldn’t be a ship full of frantic pirates attacking theirs in the harbor if there wasn’t something really here to grab and take. But where was it, and why hadn’t they reached it yet? Would they just keep crawling all the way through the middle of the mountain? Were there more lava vents like the one they had to climb past? There were too many troublesome possibilities, Ideo had to push them out of his head and just focus on Bluegilly’s bare back in front of him, and the wavering light of their torch. Come to think of it, the torch was looking a lot less robust than earlier…

Bluegilly suddenly let out a stream of curses as he banged his head on the ceiling of the passage. “I think it’s getting narrower!” he exclaimed when he could say more than _fuck shit fuckity fuck_. “Dammit, that hurt like hell.”

“You think so?” Ideo came up to him and looked him over to make sure he hadn’t really hurt himself, and then gauged the walls. Width-wise, there was definitely no longer room to pass one another without doing an extremely intimate dance. “You okay?”

“Fine,” the Longleg grumbled, rubbing his head. “I’m serious, it’s getting hard to walk in here.”

“Yeah, but you’re taller than most people,” Ideo pointed out. “You’re just gonna have to duck.”

“Story of my life,” Bluegilly sighed angrily. “You’re almost as tall as me, so if you don’t want me saying ‘I told you so’ in a few more steps…”

“Take it easy,” his captain implored. “If we have to duck, we have to duck.”

“Are you _sure_ about this?” It was the first either of them truly, openly questioned the plan. Bluegilly’s gaze softened into one of pure worry. “I mean, I’ve lost all track of time. We’ve been in here so long – hours, it feels like – who knows what’s even going on out there. The other pirates could have decimated our crew while we’ve been fucking around in here, I mean hell – we could even be in the wrong cave and not even know it!”

“Get a hold of yourself!” Ideo barked at him, moving to grab him and shake him but unable to since he wasn’t wearing his jacket. He settled for rapping his vice-captain in the chest with his knuckles. “Stop for a moment and think. This tunnel has been more or less straight and even all this way – it’s still big enough for most normal-height people to traipse right down like a garden path. There haven’t been any forks or side-tunnels, just this one cutting straight through the mountain. It’s completely smooth, too, it’s clearly man-made.” He poked Bluegilly insistently in the chest as he explained. “That means it has to come out somewhere. Somebody deliberately made this perfectly straight tunnel and smoothed out the roof and the floor so people could use it. We have to follow it to its end, no matter what.”

Bluegilly peered at him like he wasn’t buying any of this, but by the end, he simply twisted his lips in a pout. “All right, you got a point. But I can’t help but feel like we’re forging steadily onward to our own deaths.”

“You can’t think like that,” Ideo countered. “We’ll get out of here, one way or another. If it means I have to fire a Destruction Cannon straight into the heart of the volcano and get it to erupt us out of here, I will.”

Bluegilly snorted at the mental image that provoked, and then gently brushed his captain’s hand away from poking him any further. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. All right, we’ll keep going, even if it feels like it’s getting tighter in here. And I think our torch is going out,” he added, bringing it down to look more closely at it.

“There are worse things in the world than darkness,” Ideo said nobly, turning to lead the way. “Keep an eye on it, but we’ll be all right. I promise.”

The passageway was definitely becoming more difficult for someone of Bluegilly’s stature to easily navigate, but the difficulty of walking wasn’t the worst thing that could befall them, either. The rubble lessened as they went on, but the tunnel grew undoubtedly more narrow, until both of them were stooping as they walked. Their torch dwindled to just a couple of tiny tongues of flame no larger than match-heads clinging to the edges of the wood, but it was still enough by which to see what lay ahead. Ideo kept it at his back, the better to let his eyes adjust all over again, but if the torch went out, no amount of adjusting would help either of them in pitch-blackness. He pressed diligently on without wavering, until they came up against another blockage of stone cutting off their way forward. He was all set to let another destructive punch fly when Bluegilly’s breathing suddenly escalated to hyperventilating. “See? We’re gonna die down here!” he cried, grabbing Ideo by the ponytail. “It doesn’t matter how man-made this tunnel is, it’s a death trap! We have to go back! Ideo!”

“Dammit!” Ideo reeled back and then spun and slammed a lower elbow into his comrade’s gut. “Calm down!”

The hit managed to get his hair released, but as he turned fully to confront Bluegilly, he realized that his Longleg companion was suffering from the throes of a nervous breakdown. The rapidly-constricting tunnel and the darkness had combined to drown him in claustrophobia, and seeing the obstacle ahead had driven him over the edge. He was really freaking out, blue eyes wide and face pale in the gloom. He grabbed for Ideo’s arms, dropping the torch as he did. “There’s no way out!” he insisted. “We’re just going to keep going and going into the mountain until we run out of air, and then we’ll die! I don’t want this place to be my tomb, I need to get out! You promised, Ideo – get us out of here!”

The manhandling was doing neither of them any good, so Ideo wrestled one arm free and then punched Bluegilly squarely in the jaw to knock him back. “Snap out of it!” he yelled back, lunging to land on top of his delirious vice-captain and pin him down before he could get up or start flailing. “Bluegilly! Listen to me! You have to calm down!”

He held him down with hands on his shoulders, heaving for breath and trying to calm down himself rather than rise to that level of energy. Bluegilly only struggled a little before going limp, though his eyes still stared straight through Ideo rather than see him there. “We’re gonna die down here,” he whimpered. “We’re too far in, now. Ideo…”

“We’re not gonna die,” Ideo said forcefully, curling one hand into all that unruly blue hair and forcing his comrade to shift his gaze. “Look at me, Bluegilly. Look at me! I’m not gonna let you die. I’ll get us out, I just need you to calm down and focus, first! I can’t get us out of here if you’re freaking out on me.”

Bluegilly gulped huge, deep breaths, but as his eyes found Ideo’s in the fading light, he began to get it under control, and blinked as he came to his senses. “I…but what…”

“It’ll be okay, I’ve got you,” Ideo assured, not gentling his tone at all. He had to be powerful enough for the both of them. “You hear me?”

“Yeah…yeah…” Bluegilly let his head fall back onto the ground with a thunk and covered his eyes with his hand. “I’m sorry, Ideo, I just…I don’t know what…I lost it…”

“I’m not surprised. It’s stuffy and dark in here," Ideo said matter-of-factly, sitting up and letting go of him. “I need you to push past it, though. Let me punch through this roadblock and we’ll keep going. We’ve gotta come out on the other side, right?”

Swallowing hard, Bluegilly nodded, though he waited until Ideo got off him before sitting up. He dug around in the pack for his water flask and drank the rest of it all at once, and then rubbed his face to try to keep himself under control despite the encroaching darkness. The torch lay where he had dropped it, the miniscule flames feebly glowing in the still, stagnant tunnel. He watched Ideo stride right up to the blockage, feel around it to make sure he located the right point to punch, and then throw another Destruction Cannon at it. Both had believed it would be the same as the last one, but it was not to be so. The impact of the punch shook the whole tunnel, and then it didn’t stop shaking. Ideo looked up sharply and then lunged back to grab Bluegilly by the arm, dragging him to his feet just in time. They both threw themselves up the passageway as it collapsed behind them, burying that exact same spot in even more rock – and with it, their dying torch. Suffocating blackness clapped down on them so quickly that for a moment both wondered if they had been buried in the rubble as well, but as soon as the rumbling and trembling died away, they began to feel around them and noticed that their arms and legs were free. Groping in the darkness, they found each other and held on, hands clasped over each other’s arms. Ideo coughed dust out of his mouth and then swiveled his head, trying to locate which way was up. “You okay…?”

“Fine,” Bluegilly whispered back, still panting but sounding more coherent than a moment before the collapse. “What the hell…?”

“Must have been an unstable point in the tunnel,” Ideo muttered. “Sorry, that was all me. Now we really have to go forward, we can’t go back. And the torch…”

“It was going out anyway,” Bluegilly said sourly. “We’d have had to go on without it sooner or later.” He used his grip on Ideo’s arm to feel him out, checking him over. “You hurt at all?”

“No more than I was before,” the captain replied, though his voice came out weary and uncertain. He was tired and bruised, there was no way to deny it. “C’mon. The only way out is to keep going. Grab onto me – I’ll use my arms to feel our way along.”

His extra-long arms could reach further ahead, he reasoned to himself, it made total sense for him to go first and have Bluegilly cling to him in order to keep from losing each other in the darkness. Even if his companion had snapped out of his momentary lapse of reason, he still might have needed time to recover, all the more reason for Ideo to take the lead. Sighing softly, Bluegilly agreed without saying a word, pushing himself up and remembering to duck at the last second lest he strike his head on the ceiling again. He kept one hand on Ideo at all times, and when both were standing and facing away from the collapsed part of the tunnel, he hooked an arm fully around Ideo’s waist. That was all the signal Ideo needed to start off, stretching his arms out as far as they would go and inching his fingers along the cave walls. He was glad he hadn’t stopped to put his gloves back on, for the tactile sensation of gripping the rock as they went helped more than he would have thought. He could tell, now, that the tunnel had in fact been carved by human means, it was rough but not jagged the way a split fissure would be, and not at all smooth the way a water-worn channel would feel. Whoever made this tunnel made it for a purpose, and he was more certain than ever that said purpose would be waiting for them at the very end of it, whatever the end entailed. He forced himself not to think of it being a terminal chamber somewhere inside the mountain. Instead, he emptied his mind of thought and focused instead on what he could observe without his eyes – the feel of the tunnel walls, the sound of Bluegilly’s steady breathing just behind his shoulder, the feel of that strong arm looped around his waist, fingers hooked into the jacket tied around him, the clammy sensation of sweaty skin on sweaty skin where they touched. Ideo closed his eyes, since they weren’t doing him any good anyway. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to have haki in a situation like this, but he hadn’t awakened it yet. All he had was his other senses to guide him.

If the time they had already spent navigating the tunnel had felt like hours, this part of the journey in complete blackness felt like an eternity. Time lost all sense of meaning, and since neither spoke, they became dreadfully and intimately familiar with the rhythm of each other’s breathing. They moved far more slowly now, since Ideo needed time to feel out the way ahead of them and make sure there weren’t any more roadblocks and Bluegilly had to follow at his pace. The Longleg was practically doubled over by now to keep from brushing against the low ceiling of the tunnel, and at some point he simply tipped his head down to rest his forehead against the center of Ideo’s back. It was easier to walk with that kind of support, and from the brush of a hand to his arm where it remained fastened around Ideo’s waist, he gathered that the touch was welcome for other reasons. From his position, Bluegilly could also listen and feel, and he found himself becoming alarmingly aware of every change in the body in front of his. He could feel a step falter, and heard the labored edge to his breathing long before he felt a change in the way Ideo’s chest expanded and contracted. The rate became faster, each breath shorter and more ragged. Another faltering step almost pitched both of them to the floor, but Ideo righted himself and kept going. Bluegilly didn’t like what he was feeling, and lifted his head so he wouldn’t be such a burden dragging on his captain, but he refrained from asking lest they fall right back into the usual “I’m fine” routine. Instead, he kept careful note of everything and did his best to stay upright and stable so that Ideo would not have to worry about him keeping up. Their pace slowed even more, and then Ideo staggered and failed to catch himself. He fell right out of Bluegilly’s grip, but the thump of his collapse was easy to hear and locate in the darkness. Bluegilly dropped beside him and found where he lay with only a little fumbling, groping up along his arm to his shoulder and then rolling him over into his own lap. Ideo seemed to be senseless, but it was hard to tell. He was still breathing shallowly, and had gone limp. “Ideo? Ideo!” Bluegilly hissed into the black void, bending over him. “Come on, stay with me. Ideo!”

He called his comrade’s name until he heard a corresponding moan answering him. Ideo shifted a little in his arms but didn’t try to sit up. “Where…?”

“Ideo…” Bluegilly’s voice was raw with fear. “What happened? Are you all right?”

The answer was long in coming. “Can’t breathe. Tired…”

Bluegilly slid his hand up along Ideo’s flank and chest to his neck, to find his pulse and gauge it for himself. It was hard to tell but it seemed thready and weak, and a pang of worry made him curl that hand along Ideo’s bearded jawline and hold him close. “It’s okay,” he whispered, bending his head low over Ideo’s face. “I’ll take over from here. You rest, I’ll handle it.”

Fingers brushed along his arm, searching for him. “Can’t, we gotta…”

“Captain,” Bluegilly said a little more firmly, pushing past his compounded worries and his fear of the close, tight space to find his strength, “it’s my turn. Here, hold onto me. I’m going to turn around, you should grab on so I can carry you on my back.”

They never addressed each other by their shipboard titles, but it was a good way to quickly get Ideo’s attention before he could fade again. He grunted in acknowledgement and let Bluegilly push him up to a seat. The Longleg first tossed aside the pack – everything except the second water bottle which still had a mouthful left in it, which he tucked into the waistband of his pants – and then positioned himself with his back to Ideo. He knew they were in trouble when all his companion could do was sag against him, it was up to him to pull the long arms over his shoulders and bend them so that they wouldn’t be in his way but still had a hold on him. Tucking Ideo’s legs around his waist, Bluegilly leaned forward to hoist him up and then continued on their forward journey down the tunnel, one arm committed to keeping Ideo from sliding off his back, the other stretched out before him to feel the way. Without the extra-long reach he couldn’t do much besides follow the wall, so he stumbled over loose rock now and then, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from forging onward. He had no idea what had overcome Ideo, or whether it would get him too sooner or later, but for now he felt strong enough to carry on for both of them. His moment of terror had long passed, and a bolder, tougher Bluegilly met the darkness now, face set in a scowl of determination even if there was no way for anyone to see it.

If the passageway had been difficult before, it very soon became downright impossible. The complete blackness of the depths pressed against Bluegilly’s eyes until he had no recourse but to shut them tightly, preferring to pretend that it wasn’t so bad so long as he wasn’t straining to try to locate even the tiniest wisp of light that wasn’t there. He groped along the wall with his free hand, palm-first so as not to stub his fingers on every jutting edge or bump in the stone, inching his way one step at a time. The dead-still air was stuffy and tasted like sulfur, dry and hard on his throat, until he felt himself rasping for breath the same as his comrade under the strain of carrying his full weight on his back. Ideo never stirred, and his arms hung loosely around Bluegilly’s neck, draping almost to the floor of the cave as they crept along. Eventually the roof of the tunnel lowered even more and reduced Bluegilly to crawling so he wouldn’t knock his captain’s head on it, let alone his own. At least that way it was easier to keep him from falling off, and freed Bluegilly to use both hands to feel his way down the tunnel, but it emphasized the weight against his back and the truly dire situation they were both in. At least there was no one to see him crawling on hands and knees, scraped and bruised and exhausted, covered in a fine film of sweat and dirt, with Ideo draped over his back, limbs dragging against the stone floor of the cave. He didn’t need to see to know they were in serious trouble. He had to keep going, had to push past his weariness and ignore the searing in his chest from every choking breath and just keep moving, or else they would never see the end. He refused to fall down here, they deserved better than to lie down and die in some rocky chamber deep beneath the earth. They were part of a Grand Fleet, dammit! If anything, they needed to live in order to go down with their ship and their crew, not all alone here! Bluegilly fought to keep from hyperventilating again, this time in anger rather than fear, because he was starting to suspect the air in the tunnel wasn’t quite right. Maybe they were so deep inside the mountain that they were losing oxygen, if there was no source of fresh air to fill the tiny passage. His hand came down on what he thought was just a bump in the road but turned out to be a loose stone, which gave way beneath him and sent him crashing onto his face. He laid there for a minute to catch his breath, resting his forehead on his arm but keeping the rest of his body in a tense crouch so as not to crush Ideo’s arms beneath him. It had been some time since he last felt his comrade stir or heard even the slightest groan in his ear, he knew Ideo was unconscious now and only stayed in place from a combination of gravity and sticky, sweaty skin. Bluegilly could feel his breath against his neck, but it was fainter than a breeze, and still too rapid and shallow to be good. As he crouched in the darkness with his head on his arm, he cursed this asshole rookie pirate crew and their rumored treasure. It wasn’t worth their lives, and now he was the only thing standing between them and certain death. What a burden to dump on the shoulders of an ex-martial arts competitor who used to only be concerned about his own rankings and popularity! He could have stayed in the league, kept fighting meaningless matches in the ring, and enjoyed the luxury of fine hotels and passenger ships afforded to those whose only idea of a nightmare was coming in second. He let the thought flit across his mind with an air of pure sarcasm, because he knew full well that even if he was staring death in the face for real, it was still better than that façade of power he used to have. This was where the real battles were fought and won, in the stagnant darkness and at the bitter end. He curled his fingers as if trying to scoop up loose dust and rock, scraping his nails across the stone and making a fist. No, this wasn’t going to be the end if he could help it. He had to get Ideo to safety, that mattered more than his own life right in that moment.

With his eyes still closed, Bluegilly turned his other senses toward his companion on his back, trying to feel whether he was stable or getting worse as time went on. He could feel Ideo’s heartbeat against his back, at least, that was a good sign. He focused on that, and as he did, something extraordinary began to unfold within and around him. The heartbeat itself didn’t change but Bluegilly believed he could feel it more viscerally all of a sudden, not just the soft thump muffled by skin and muscle and bone but the rhythm of life itself, strobing in the darkness. He realized with a start that he was feeling Ideo’s life force, and though he didn’t open his eyes, he could suddenly _see_ him there, draped against his back, an Ideo-shaped aura pulsing in his head, long arms and broad chest and tight ponytail and everything. The shock of it made Bluegilly gasp in a breath which instantly seized in his dry throat, turning into a hard, racking cough that doubled him over with his face on his arm again. Still, he could feel that living aura in the back of his mind and clung to it, letting it fill his senses until he could finally raise his head and blink in the pitch black. Things were different, now. There was still no light but some part of him could faintly see the tunnel around him, as if he was literally seeing in his mind’s eye what his hands would feel if he stretched them out and groped along the rock. There was no time to be astonished by the phenomenon, for among the things he could discern through the uncertain fog of his untrained senses, he could not miss the enormous black gash across the floor about three feet in front of him – another fissure, which he might have fallen into if he had simply kept going ahead. There was no mistaking its presence even if he couldn’t “see” it clearly, its edges were blurred as if by a mist and the entire tunnel forward and back seemed filled with something he couldn’t visualize but could still feel. Letting Ideo slide off him for a moment, Bluegilly crept forward on his hands and stared right down into the fissure, which his eyes could not see but his mind could, and he was abruptly jolted by a flash of vision: himself and Ideo both collapsing on the floor, breathing a few more hard gasps and then breathing no more. Shaking it out of his head, Bluegilly finally understood what was happening. It was haki, he had just awakened it and the first thing it showed him was the inevitable future if he didn’t do something. Poisonous volcanic gases were seeping from that fissure, that was why neither of them could breathe or maintain their strength. It was subtle and deadly, the gas simply permeated the air without need of wind or vent, crowding out the vital oxygen and collecting in the tunnel’s lowest depths, filling Ideo’s lungs first because he had been exerting himself far more than his comrade for so much of the journey. Knowing now that his haki had come to life, Bluegilly clung to it with every ounce of his will, trying to let it fill his head and heart and tell him everything he needed to know to get out of there. Ideo’s life force drew him like a magnet, he could find it easily and picked his comrade up in his arms, pressing a hand delicately to his face before shouldering his weight all over again. This time, he crouched with his long legs bunched under him, building his strength and getting a much better grip on his burden in preface to making his escape. The flash of Observation haki was hard to control, so new and fresh and unstable, all Bluegilly could really make out with it was the fissure in the floor and Ideo’s aura, everything else was indistinct, a mere impression of energy or movement or something far, far away. He knew what mattered, at least, and tightened his arms beneath Ideo’s legs to keep him well-seated before springing from that spot and taking two great long strides before leaping full over the fissure in one bound. He didn’t stop there, pushing himself to a full run as he kept going up the tunnel. _Up._ He could feel it, now, they were finally ascending.

The tingles of his haki around the edges of his senses lent Bluegilly a new burst of strength he thought he didn’t have left to him. Running at full speed along the tunnel likely drew more of the poisoned air into his lungs, but he didn’t care. They would have been left breathing just as much bad air if they kept up that slow crawl instead. He had to stay low with his head and shoulders ducked but he could really, truly feel the expanse of the tunnel now, it was like he could sense just how far the walls and roof were from his own personal space. Not even the rattle of loose stones under his feet could stop him now, he plunged headlong into the darkness and barreled up the tunnel until his whole body ached from the strain, his chest heaving with every breath as he chugged his way forward. Somewhere along the line he felt the arm around his neck tighten, and then heard a low grunt in his ear. Ideo was coming around. There wasn’t time to stop or even slow down, though, Bluegilly kept going even though his brand new haki told him that the life force he carried was growing stronger, flaring like a flame in the darkness. The sound of his captain’s ravaged voice in the blackness thrilled his heart. “…the hell? Bluegilly…”

“Don’t ask, just hold tight,” Bluegilly admonished without breaking stride. “I’m getting us out of here.”

He still had no idea just what lay ahead, what he might be rushing toward, any impressions were still faint and indecipherable and he didn’t know how to sharpen his focus and turn his observation toward specific sensations yet. As long as he didn’t smack his head on the ceiling or fall into any more crevices, he didn’t care about anything else. He couldn’t be stopped. At long last, after the eternity of that darkness, thick as tar and just as crushing, he could have sworn that he just glimpsed real, actual light beginning to seep down the tunnel. His eyes were open, now, he could see it for real and not with his will. It was dimmer than starlight on a moonless night, but to the two pirates who had adjusted to real darkness, it seemed as bright as day. And none too soon, for Bluegilly’s body was starting to reach its limits, which no amount of sheer grit and determination could surpass. The toe of his shoe caught in the tiniest crack and he pitched forward, crashing like a falling tree into the middle of the tunnel and laying there stunned for a moment. The impact jolted Ideo off him, but he managed to curl his long arms just right to absorb the worst of the damage from rolling across the craggy floor of the passage. After a moment Bluegilly dragged himself up on his hands and shook his head to clear it, turning his face toward the growing light and heaving for breath. The vague sensations of energy were starting to grow more unmistakable, and he had to wonder if it meant they were coming up onto something living. Ideo had no idea what was behind this action and still couldn’t quite make out his dark shape against the dark wall, but he could hear that labored breathing and knew right where he was, sitting up and looking toward him. “Is that…I can see something…”

“I think we’re coming out of it,” Bluegilly dared to hope, kneeling there with his arms sagging at his sides while he gulped air. “How…how are you? Can you…think you can walk a bit?”

Ideo looked from where he could hear his vice-captain’s voice and then up to where the barely-there light glowed against the tunnel wall. “How long were you carrying me?” he whispered incredulously.

Bluegilly dismissed the question with a huff of a laugh. He could still feel the vibrancy of Ideo’s life force, and even pick out his aura like a silhouette against the opposite wall, watching with his haki as the Longarm used the wall to claw his way upright and then staggered to his feet. Bluegilly likewise pushed himself up and tottered off, no longer running but still capable of moving under his own power. Ideo’s steps were unsteady but he managed, still feeling his way along the wall with one hand but stretching the other out to grab a hold of his comrade’s shirt where it was tied around him, keeping just that little bit of contact so as not to lose one another. In due time the light grew more distinct, taking on the golden hue of fire or lamplight, but at the same time, Bluegilly was sure the nebulous impressions resonating with his haki belonged to people. It made sense, if there were torches or lamps in the cave ahead. He drew to a stop and pulled Ideo with him, taking a moment to crouch down and rest with their backs against the wall. The light was strong enough now that they could easily see each other’s features, and he couldn’t help but be a bit concerned at the haggard, droopy look on Ideo’s face. His makeup couldn’t hide the dark circles deep under his eyes, his lips were dry and cracked and there were so many bloody scratches across his face caked in dirt, he looked worse than he had after battling on Dressrosa. Ideo, in turn, frowned to himself, thinking that Bluegilly looked a bit pale, with a cut across his forehead deep enough that blood had run down his temple and mingled with the sweat and dirt before drying. They both looked terrible, but they weren’t finished yet. Bluegilly fished the water flask out of his pants and pressed it eagerly into his comrade’s hand. “Drink. It’s the last of our water, you need it.”

“But you…”

“You were worse off than me,” Bluegilly insisted. “Take it.”

Ideo blinked uncertainly in the gloom and then scrubbed an arm over his eyes, trying to banish the dark shadows speckling the edges of his vision. He truly meant to obey and take a drink, but before he could, he wilted and sagged against Bluegilly’s shoulder. The Longleg breathed a soft sound of worry and took the flask back, so he could uncap it and raise it to Ideo’s lips. It was a sign just how poorly he was doing that he had no choice but to tip his head back and accept the water dribbling over his parched tongue and down his throat – and his face. There was far too little of it, and nothing for Bluegilly, but if he was sensing things correctly, they might have finally reached a point where they could do something about it. As they sat there collecting themselves, he turned his head and his full attention to the people-like flickers of life not far away. There was no way to know who it was, and as much as he wanted to hope their own crew had come looking for them, there was an equal chance the enemy pirates had won their battle and reached their goal first. Only then, after all that long way and the deepest pits of despair, did he remember that he had a mini den-den mushi in his coat pocket. That is, if it hadn’t fallen out somewhere along the way. He patted himself down to find the pockets of the jacket tied around his waist and then found the little creature in one, but it seemed that they weren’t the only ones to suffer the effects of volcanic gases – the den-den mushi was unconscious and completely unresponsive to his poking. Ideo stared at it. “Why is it…it’s not dead, is it?”

“No, it’s out cold,” Bluegilly sighed. “So much for calling Jeet and finding out where they are. Look…” He turned toward his captain, laying a hand on his arm. “I don’t know how but I’ve got haki, all of a sudden, I can feel people nearby. But I don’t know who it is.”

“What?” Ideo’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “ _How?_ ”

“I said I don’t know!” Bluegilly hissed at him, trying to wave him down before anyone heard. “It’s not foolproof, yet, okay? I don’t know how far away they are, how many there are, whether they’re our guys or the other ones…”

“But…you’re sure they’re people.” It was a testament to their bond that Ideo believed him instantly and shifted to relying on him. “We’re going to have to go up and find out.”

“I know, just. I figured I should warn you, so we don’t just blunder into the wrong people out of nowhere.” He looked his captain over again and steeled his expression. “You good to go?”

“As good as I’m going to get right now.” Ideo still felt like rolling over and going to sleep, he didn’t understand why his limbs felt like lead and his head was thick and heavy, but he had to push through it in order to get them out of there. He had promised, and look at how well that had gone so far. He leaned forward onto his knees and rested his knuckles on the ground. “If we get into a fight, though…I’ll need everything I’ve got.”

“Let me help.” Bluegilly shamelessly brushed up against him in order to reach around him and untie his jacket, and then helped him shove his long arms up into the sleeves. Ideo’s gloves had also survived the ordeal just fine tucked into his belt, so once his jacket was on, he pulled those on as well and pounded his fists together. That simple act tightened up his Destruction Cannon, it still wouldn’t be at maximum power thanks to his overall weakened state but it would be more powerful than the ones he had used to batter their way through the tunnel. He looked to Bluegilly, and for a moment they held each other’s gaze in silence, each faintly smiling in relief to see the other still alive. Ideo resolved to get the full story later, after they had dealt with the last obstacle in their path.

Since he had the advantage of observation, Bluegilly crept up the passageway in the lead, listening as much as sensing, though in short order both of them could hear the voices ahead echoing as if contained within a much larger cave. Here the tunnel finally took a few twists and turns, so the two crewmates made their way to one corner and paused to wait and watch, expecting that it was their last chance to hide and suss out the situation before stepping out into the open and giving themselves away. They knew their own crewmates well enough to know that none of the voices belonged to anyone familiar, and then names were spoken – definitely not theirs. It had to have been the other crew, then. But what were they doing here, and where was _here_ anyway? The light here was so strong it seared the eyes of those who had come through darkness, even though the nearest torch was around the corner from their hiding spot. There were too many unanswered questions making it hard to decide what to do, but then the approach of footsteps forced them to stop wondering and start paying attention. The men were talking gruffly about whose job it was to carry what, and then one came so close that his shadow fell on the floor of the passageway just at the corner; Bluegilly had to move his foot to ensure that it wouldn’t be spotted if any of them were to look around. A noise like the chipping of stone came to them, and then the sliding of rock and the thud of something being tossed aside. Ideo took a chance and stretched past his comrade to take a peek, and scowled darkly at what he could see. Just around the corner and across the way, three or four men were clustered around the rock face, slowly pulling down stones one by one to open up a hidden niche. Their backs were to the rest of the tunnel beyond, so they didn’t notice anyone spying on them as they worked. Ideo nudged Bluegilly to get him to have a look for himself, and then the two of them placed their lips alongside each other’s ear in order to stealthily make a plan. They couldn’t let their whispers carry, it had to be their secret until the last second. Just when they broke off to stare each other in the eye and nod affirmation that it would work, a louder sound crashed around them, making them as well as the pirates at the wall startle. “Shit!” one of the others exclaimed. “I told you!”

“Storm’s really in the thick of it now,” another noted. “That one was close.”

“Are we gonna be able to haul anything out in this shit?” a third asked.

The voice which answered sent a ripple of rage up the Triple-X pirates’ spines: the captain Jeet had interrogated noisily in the bar. “I’ve gone through too much to lose a single beli coin to the drink now!” he declared. “Drag it out of there and pile it in the mouth of the cave, we’ll wait until the storm passes and then lower it all down to the ship.” 

“If we wait too long, those other pirates are gonna catch up to us,” one of the wall-breakers fretted.

“I thought we put a hole in their hull?”

“No way, they were still sailing just fine when we got past ‘em.”

“Well, shit. Better hope this storm blows over quick, then.”

“Are you seriously afraid of those guys?” the captain blustered. “They’re just some no-name rookies, I’ve never even seen their mark before!”

“But, captain…” a new voice said timidly. “Maxie swore he saw them let some of their crew off on the island. There could be twice as many men, maybe some strong ones…”

There came the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting a face and the thud of a body falling. “Maxie’s eyesight must be off!” the captain bellowed. “Don’t worry about those other pirates, just focus on getting our stash safely out of here. I mean it – you guys drop a single coin into the sea and it’ll be the death of you! That treasure’s ours and I’m not letting some greedy rookies get their hands on it!”

There was some indistinct grumbling from one of the men removing the rubble blocking the alcove where everything was hidden, but they all dropped it after that and worked on hauling everything out to the other end of the cave – chests of coins, boxes of ammunition, a couple of swivel guns, barrels of gunpowder, and more crates of unknown valuables. Ideo and Bluegilly let them do all the hard work first, there was no sense in saving the heavy lifting for themselves in this state, but they were mindful of what they heard. Their crew was probably safe, possibly on the hunt for the enemy ship if they didn’t hang around the cove where they had originally anchored, and the storm had finally hit. Thunder roared into the cave now and again, reverberating off the stone walls, but the cache and the enemy crew was deep enough inside that they didn’t fear the lightning and rain. It was probably the perfect place to wait out the weather, but there was no telling why they couldn’t reach their ship even if it was a little stormy. Bluegilly kept peeking out from behind the corner to see when the last man carried the last crate out of the secret niche, and then signaled that it was time. By now both of them were rested enough to fight, but after their ordeal, they couldn’t say whether the two of them alone could handle an entire crew. All they could do was make their move and let it play out.

The first Destruction Cannon blasted right through a spear of rock jutting up from the floor and showered the enemy crew with splintered rock, while the shockwave of it blew them all off their feet. They leaped up, yelling about an explosion and whether someone had dropped some cannon shot, but then two figures dashed out through the curtains of dust blowing through the cave and lit straight into the first men they could find. Bluegilly sprang over the shattered stalagmite and spun into a whip kick that took out three at once, slamming them sideways into the wall, while Ideo shot past him and threw punches into the faces gaping at him in the torchlight. They had finally come out to the end of the tunnel and could see the entire tableau for themselves: the terminus was a wide sea cave, broad enough for dozens of men to make camp if they needed to, with signs that some crew may have done so in the past. The sky beyond the gaping maw of the cave was as dark as night with the storm, cut through now and again with vivid flashes of lightning, and between the rain and the wind driving the sea spray the mouth of the cave was too wet for man and cargo. They had hauled their stash closer to the mouth but not all the way, and a few of their men sat on the crates to wait for the storm to end. Everyone turned, shocked that two strangers had attacked them from what they assumed was a dead end tunnel beyond their hiding place, and the two Triple-X pirates made short work of half of them thanks to that complete surprise. The others further toward the mouth of the cave recovered themselves and their weapons and charged to meet them, mustering while their captain barked out orders. “I don’t care who they are, don’t let them take our treasure! Fight back with all you’ve got!”

Bluegilly whirled around and dealt devastating kicks to anyone who got within range of his long legs, then ducked as a couple shot at him from a smart distance. Ideo picked one pirate up and threw him bodily into his mates before plowing into them himself, using his hidden arms as battering rams while they were tucked up in his sleeves. He swung both fists together, locking them into a two-handed hit that demolished one heavyset fellow and had a second man collapsing to his knees, coughing up blood. Yet, that first wave had been the easy part. This crew of thieves and thugs was not exactly weak, they had not merely stolen this treasure from the former Whitebeards by stealth alone. Their stronger members were part of the recovery crew, and picked themselves up even after taking direct hits and launched a counter-attack once they realized it was just two men. The wiser among them stayed far back enough to use rifles and pistols rather than risk close-quarters blows, though only one was a sharpshooter and could do so without accidentally hitting his own crewmates. The others threw aside their spent pistols and charged in with blades and bardiches, noticing that their foes were fighting hand-to-hand without any weapons at all. Three went for Ideo all at once, forcing him to grapple with them, while two more challenged Bluegilly capably enough by knocking aside his feet with their polearms. It was like the coliseum battle all over again, these bastards kept taking the hits and getting right back up to give it another go. It was hard going for the two Triple-X fighters, but at the same time, a sign of how much they had improved in their short time as pirates already, for them to be taking on so many strong fighters while in their ragged, compromised state and defeating them. Still, it took too many rounds for each enemy to finally go down and stay down, and in the thick of it both Ideo and Bluegilly were panting and sweating all over again, pushed past their already abused limits and fighting with nothing but their own lives at stake. The treasure and their crew could take a back seat, right now they just needed to clear this cave of anyone who would stop them from leaving it. Ideo knocked a couple of heads together and then buried his fist in another gut, glancing past his opponents to see how his comrade was faring. Bluegilly was too busy fighting one-on-one with a strapping pirate with a long gaff hook to notice that the enemy captain was coming up behind him, racing in to attack his back with saber raised. For a moment Ideo froze in shock, and then he was moving, arms and legs pumping as fast as they would go. Bluegilly only felt his presence at the last second, and turned in surprise just as Ideo threw himself in the way of the sword aiming to skewer the Longleg from behind. For a moment it seemed like time stood still, Bluegilly expected to look down and see his dear friend impaled yet again and this time probably for good, but then there was the sparkling ring of shattering metal, and the opposing captain’s eyes widened as his blade splintered in his hand, sending shards of metal flying in all directions. All eyes dropped to Ideo’s abdomen, where the saber should have penetrated him; the Longarm captain stood with every muscle in his torso flexed to the maximum and a smooth, shiny black skin shimmering over his abs. Even he hadn’t realized what he had done, given the way he looked down as well and then let out a soft “heh!” under his breath. “Come on!” he raged at his foes, lifting his head and fixing all the ones still standing with a deadly, daring grin. “Is that all you can do? Pathetic!”

Bluegilly let out a breath in a startled gust, tipping head and shoulders to the side to blindly dodge his opponent’s weapon just in the nick of time. “Did you just do what I think you did?”

“Looks like it,” Ideo retorted, covering his own shock with his usual cocky attitude. He put himself back to back with his vice-captain and raised his fists. “Bluegilly. Let’s clean up this mess and get out of here.”

“You got it, captain,” Bluegilly smirked back, easing against his back and lifting a foot into position to strike back.

A couple of the enemy pirates recoiled at that, backing off warily. “He’s the captain?” one blurted out, shaken. “No way! They had their strongest men already on the island ready to ambush us!”

“Don’t give in!” their own captain snapped, scrambling to find a new weapon to use. “It’s just two men and they’re already injured!”

His orders were not enough to encourage one man, who abruptly threw down his sword and stepped back. “No way, I’m not here to die for you. You can’t make me work for you any longer, I quit!”

Even if they weren’t up on all of the traditions and rules among pirates, the two Triple-X pirates were just as taken aback by that declaration as the man’s own crew. Their captain yanked a sword out of someone else’s hands and advanced on his own man. “Pick it up and get back in there if you know what’s good for you!”

The instant he was abreast of Bluegilly, a long leg shot out and clotheslined him mid-rampage. “That’s for trying to attack me from behind like a coward,” he spat, and then shot the deserter a look. “You wanna get out of here alive, man, you’d better pick it up. Just use it on the right people, now.”

The stranger stared at him for a long moment, and then his face morphed into a look of fatalistic determination. He grabbed up his sword and turn and began to attack the other crew, staying further away from where Bluegilly and Ideo backed each other up just in case. The enemy captain picked himself up and turned this way and that, trying to decide who to go after, so Ideo made the choice for him. He squared his shoulders against Bluegilly’s to spin them both to find new targets, and drew his arm back for another Destruction Cannon. He wondered if he could get that unexpected flash of Armament haki to work again, so he allowed himself a moment to concentrate and focus. It wasn’t perfect, but the knuckles of his glove glazed with a black coating of haki, and he wasted no time in using it with his signature move. The explosion from his fist blasted the coat right off the man, and threw him into the far wall of the cave so hard he left a captain-shaped indentation in the rock. The deserter had been right at the edge of the range of the shockwave and felt it blow off his hat, but it missed him just by that much. Ideo’s smirk grew fierce and dangerous, and he turned his eyes and his fist on the remaining pirates. They had nowhere to run, all they could do was throw one last-ditch effort into taking down these interfering spies before all of them were killed by that explosive punch. Now that they were no longer surrounded by enemies, Bluegilly swiftly darted out to stand at his captain’s shoulder, and together the two of them kicked and punched their way through the remnants of their enemies until only they and the random deserter were left standing. One low, distant rumble of thunder punctuated the scene of carnage, and then all that was left was the roar of the sea as it lashed at the cliff below the cave mouth.

As things fell silent around them, Ideo breathed deeply of the salty air, lifting his face toward the sea spray and rain being driven into the cave. Clean air had never tasted so good, he gave himself a few minutes just to stand there and breathe in and out, letting it fill his chest and wash away the poison in his lungs. Bluegilly did the same, laughing as he did and clawing his hands through his dirty, tangled hair. “No way. No way!” he cried into the teeth of the ebbing storm. “We did it! We really did it!”

Ideo cocked his head toward him. “What, got out of that damn tunnel or got the treasure?”

“Both, actually,” Bluegilly grinned, “now that you mention it. But I was mostly talking about the tunnel. Where are we…?” He stepped up to the mouth of the cave, ignoring the wet being blown back into his face and craning his neck to see out. The sea below roiled from the storm, tossing the enemy crew’s ship up and down like a toy. No wonder they couldn’t load their cargo in this heavy storm, their rope ladder didn’t even reach to the ship at the moment. The cave stood high on a cliff overlooking the sea, and though the rain obscured some of the view, he could see that this was one of the dangerous rocky coves they had scoped out the day before and decided against trying to explore. They hadn’t seen the cave entrance from the sea as they passed by, and Bluegilly realized with some frustration that if they had, they might have given it a shot and discovered the treasure on their own, he and Ideo would never have had to traverse through that tunnel…

Ideo came up beside him and had a look for himself. “They might still have some guys down on their ship,” was the only thing he mentioned.

Bluegilly looked down again, and then over his shoulder at the bodies strewn throughout the cave. The man who had deserted his crew was picking among them, gathering their weapons and carting them out of the way so that no one who woke up would be able to grab something and keep fighting. “Right. Well, that’s not gonna be an issue until the storm really dies down and their ship stops bucking like that. Meantime, we should probably tie these guys up.” He finally allowed himself to show just how tired he was, shoulders sagging and knees buckling. “I don’t wanna fight ‘em again.”

Ideo looked back as well and noticed the lone man already ahead of them on that point, and nodded. “That guy’s got the right idea. Let’s secure the scene and then we’ll worry about everything else. Oi.” He strode up to the stranger, folding his arms over his chest, and faced him squarely. The call had gotten the man’s attention, he stopped to let Ideo have his say. “I may not be totally up on pirate etiquette and I don’t really care, but I know it’s usually a shitty thing to quit your crew. I don’t care enough to stop you if you’re gonna leave them, but I’m curious why you did it.”

The man’s face darkened with a vicious glare. “They’re not my crew,” he said bluntly. “They pressed me into their service when they attacked my real crew and stole their treasure. I’ve just been going along with them to keep an eye on it, I don’t belong with them and I’m glad to leave ‘em.”

Bluegilly looked up while dragging an unconscious pirate over to the pile he was making out of them. “Were you with the Whitebeards?”

“My crew was,” the man nodded. He was an average-looking sort of fellow, slightly shorter than Ideo with shoulder-length dark-blond hair and nothing remarkable to be noted about his build, his features, or his clothing. “We were one of the forty-three allied to Whitebeard, rest his soul. We’ve been on our own since that mess between Commander Marco and Blackbeard, it left us open to the vultures picking at the carcass of Whitebeard’s empire.” His eyes saddened. “Most of my old crew is dead. These assholes came on us when we were beaten down, nobody was left to stand up to them except me. So they beat me down too and then stole everything we had.”

Bluegilly swore under his breath at the unfortunate circumstance. Ideo tipped his head to one side as he considered it, his eyes still hard. “What, did you think you were gonna get a chance to steal it all back or something? Because I’ve got bad news for you – that’s what we’re here for, too. We came for this loot, we need it in order to supply our new crew.”

The man heaved a long sigh. “I don’t know what I was trying to do,” he admitted. “Pirates stealing from pirates is nothing new, and there’s no recourse for it. Mostly I was looking for a chance to break free, I didn’t want to be part of this crew.” He glared all over again, this time at the cave floor between his toes. “They’re just scavengers, looking for anything they can take without pissing off any of the Emperors. They go after unaffiliated pirate crews, empty islands not under protection, that sort of thing. That’s not the kind of crew I want to belong to.”

Bluegilly popped back in at Ideo’s shoulder. “I suppose if you’ve had a taste of Whitebeard’s glory, you can’t really settle for less than that. It just so happens we’ve got a pretty good crew if you’re interested…”

Ideo shoved him back. “Excuse you, who’s the captain, here?”

The stranger’s eyes lit up. “You really are the captain, then?”

“Yeah.” Ideo turned to thumb at the mark emblazoned on the back of his jacket. “We’re the Ideo Pirates. We don’t got bounties or anything yet but we’re aiming pretty big.”

“This here’s Captain “Destruction Cannon” Ideo of the Longarm Tribe,” Bluegilly helpfully added before being shoved away again.

“I’m Maxie,” the deserter said in turn, “and I don’t know if I’m ready to attach myself to another crew yet. But I do need to take a ship out of this place, at least.”

“We can manage that much,” Ideo agreed. “If you’ll give us a hand tying these assholes up so they can’t jump us from behind.”

Since he had already begun that task, Maxie had no problem falling in alongside them to help out. He hadn’t noticed before, but now that the battle was over and the adrenaline was starting to drain away, both Ideo and Bluegilly were starting to show the effects of their ordeal. They began to move more slowly and winced with increasing pain as they carried and dragged the unconscious enemies and lashed them all together in a big knot. At last, Bluegilly wobbled and collapsed, having exhausted the last ounce of his strength and finding it hard to keep himself upright any longer. Maxie agreed to finish up any prisoner-taking while Ideo pulled his vice-captain aside and made him comfortable resting against some of the cargo crates. “I’ll be fine,” Bluegilly tried to insist, having some difficulty focusing on Ideo’s face, “but if you can find any water or food in this cache, that’d be great.”

“I’ll look in a minute,” Ideo decided. “Where’s your den-den mushi?”

Bluegilly fished it out of his pocket again, and both were relieved to find it sleeping normally instead of blacked out. Ideo put in a call to the ship, and had never been so glad to see the den-den perk up with Jeet’s squinty-eyed stare and wagging tongue. “Captain! Is it really you? We thought we’d lost you! It’s been hours!”

Ideo shook his head to hide a faint smile, and even Bluegilly chuckled softly. “Has it really? Well, we’ll tell you the whole story later, but the good news right now is, we’ve got the treasure.”

“You do? Excellent! Great work!” They could hear Abdullah and the others cheering in the background. “Is there a lot of it? Do you need us to help haul it?”

“It’s a lot more than that.” Ideo asked after the state of the ship, and then gave them directions to find one of the coves they had passed in their initial reconnaissance of the island. It turned out that their ship had sustained some damage in the sea battle, not enough to cripple her but enough that they decided to batten everything down and ride out the storm instead of try to chase the fleeing enemy ship. They had watched it turn tail and escape them, but they hadn’t expected that the enemy’s real aim was to outrun their pursuers and sneak around to the secret entrance to their cache on the opposite side of the island. Jeet assured their leader that they were already in the midst of the most crucial repairs, and could set sail as soon as the storm cleared to circle around the island, though there was a good chance they wouldn’t make it for several hours yet. It was already getting dark for real, as the sun had set behind the storm clouds – Ideo and Bluegilly had lost half a day in the mountain tunnel.

Maxie overheard some of the conversation and came over when he finished with the last of the survivors. “Tell him to be mindful of the tide,” he warned. “It’s high now, but when the tide goes out, this inlet becomes a forest of jagged rocks. No ship can land here at low tide.”

Ideo relayed that information and then left control of the ship to Jeet, trusting that they would limp their way here as best they could and then anchor where it was safe so as not to dash themselves to pieces against the hidden rocks. He looked up to Maxie with a curious frown. “Thanks…”

“Don’t mention it,” Maxie shrugged. “Anyway, you guys look like you’ve been through the ringer. There isn’t much for food in here but there’s some water casks in with the cache.”

“I would fucking love some water right now,” Bluegilly said tiredly.

Their new friend turned to find one of the water casks and roll it over, so Ideo eased himself a seat next to his crewmate to join him in finally taking a real rest. “How did you get in here?” Maxie wondered as he worked. “I mean, I thought I saw your ship drop you off before the cannons started firing, but I thought the only way to get into this cave was from the sea, not land.”

Ideo frowned up at him as he deposited a small keg next to them. “Were you with these assholes when they hid everything in the first place?”

“Yeah, about a month ago.”

Bluegilly let out a low, tired laugh. “You’ve gotta be shitting me. You guys didn’t even know that there’s a tunnel going through the mountain, then?”

“I didn’t,” Maxie said, staring. “If these guys did…” Most of the crew was still unconscious, though, no one was available to ask.

Ideo stretched to uncork the cask and then lifted it to drink straight from it before passing it to his crewmate. “It’s not the path I’d take to get back out,” he warned. “Probably can’t, anyway, it collapsed on us at one point and there was lava further back toward the entrance.”

“Lava…?” Maxie’s stare extended to them both, as if he couldn’t believe each stunning secret revealed one after another – nor that they had come through all of it alive. The pair simply shared a knowing look and didn’t explain any further. They had water to drink.

The tide in the cove below ebbed out as the storm quieted and rumbled away elsewhere to trouble other ships and islands, and as the last streamers of cloud drifted away they uncovered the moon and stars, revealing that night had fallen. The enemy ship sat at rest where it had tied up to some of the rock spears, and as he had a look out at the view, Ideo understood the deserter’s warning. The Triple-X ship would have to wait for the tide to come back in before they could sail to the rescue, for immediately below the cliff with the cave stood great, jagged teeth of rock, carved by the rise and fall of the water into sharp points which could be deadly to man or ship. Clearly, sailing into the inlet and anchoring in the right spot to hoist ropes up and rappel into the cave was just as dangerous and daring as hiking through a tunnel inside a dormant volcano, but he still felt like they had taken the true hellish route. As exhausted as he was, he felt like he couldn’t sleep, even with an extra man to sit lookout if they needed. He simply didn’t trust the cluster of tightly-bound prisoners, some of whom had come around to find themselves in a predicament and hurled taunts and insults at their captors. Bluegilly was able to snatch a little sleep here and there in short bursts, mostly because he had worn himself so thin that it didn’t matter whether he felt the need to back up his captain on watch, his body shut down of its own accord. It was a long wait until dawn and high tide, but Ideo considered it better than still being down in that black tunnel of hell, wondering if he would ever see the sun again. Captaining a pirate crew had given him a taste of real freedom, including the freedom to make stupid choices and push his body to its breaking point. This adventure had done both, and they’d been successful, but he knew not to get carried away with his pride. As he stood in the mouth of the cave, listening to the waves whisper between the stony teeth below him, he looked down to his exposed stomach and brushed a hand over the spot where he’d been able to somehow, accidentally, summon Armament haki. What would it take to do it again? He’d heard things here and there about haki, and knew more than a lot of pirates about it despite not having it yet thanks to being around fighters who could use it. Before giving up the tournament circuit and becoming a pirate, he had been considered one of the strongest fighters who could still win without it. It thrilled him to think what he might be able to do now that he had awakened it, but he had no idea where to go from here. He’d have to think about it some more, maybe he and Bluegilly could train with one another if both of them had it now. He looked over his shoulder at where his vice-captain lay curled on his side, dozing fitfully with his jacket draped over him like a blanket. _Every time one adventure ends, another one starts up right on top of it_ , he mused to himself. _We’re really in for it, now._

When dawn finally came and the sky outside began to warm from a metallic gray to a gentle gold, Bluegilly awoke with a start from another catnap to find his captain sitting with legs crossed in the cave mouth, and got up to see how he was doing. Given that Maxie was passed out with his head pillowed on the empty water cask, it was a surprise to find Ideo alert and staring out at the water with a stern look on his face. Bluegilly folded his long legs and took up a seat beside him, resting his hands on the cool, damp rock. “Have you been here all night?”

“I think it was already night when we were fighting those jerks,” Ideo murmured, rousing himself out of whatever contemplation had him looking so dour and turning to his comrade. Just seeing him there, even if he was still haggard and dirty and bloody, brought a faint sense of joy to him. “So. Half the night.”

“Still.” Bluegilly looked him over, thinking that the bruises to his torso and face looked a lot more ugly and vivid in the full light of day. They hadn’t bothered to tend their injuries, both were still too exhausted to do more than sit and think. “You look like hell.”

“So do you,” Ideo snorted.

“Nothing a bath and a good hearty breakfast won’t cure,” the vice-captain sniffed, tossing his hair. “I only over-exerted myself, you had it much worse.”

“What, because I blacked out?” Ideo frowned to himself at the reminder. “I don’t even know what happened. One minute I was going along just fine, the next I couldn’t even get up from my knees.”

Bluegilly dropped his gaze from the light brightening in the sky to the stones at the edge of the cliff in front of them. “I have a theory. Mind you, it’s just a guess, but.” He pressed his thin lips together as he thought back to that uncomfortable realization. “You were doing most of the hard work, that whole way, breathing that stale air. While I was carrying you, I thought the air smelled foul, like a volcano’s armpit. If you were sucking in all that air while you punched through walls and climbed rocks and shit, it would’ve done a number on you no matter what.” He looked over to Ideo, then, and smacked one hand lightly against his arm. “When we get back to the ship, you should take it easy. We don’t got a doctor to look you over or anything, all we can do is hope there wasn’t any permanent damage.”

“Worrying about me again, huh?” Ideo bowed his head and smiled to himself. Anyone else he would have cuffed around the head for even suggesting he was susceptible to human weaknesses like poisoned air or hunger or lack of sleep. “Maybe it’s best if we don’t tell the others everything we went through. Getting banged up in a collapsing tunnel and then fighting our way through a dozen pirates alone is bad enough.”

“At least we both came out of it stronger,” Bluegilly noted, lowering his voice as if to keep it a secret between them, even though it didn’t matter if their enemies heard it. “We both awakened our haki, didn’t we?”

“Seems so.” Ideo idly brushed a hand over his abs again. “The trick is gonna be tapping into it again. I don’t know the first thing about how it actually works.”

“We’ll stumble through it together. Like we always do.” Bluegilly shot him a fond little smile, and then looked away out over the sea. “They’d better get here soon. I’m bored.”

Fortunately for everyone involved in this adventure, the tide rose again around mid-morning, though the Ideo Pirates began to sail into the cove a little before that, following the pull of the water. They came into range to blockade the enemy ship from leaving while the jagged rocks were still visible, but stood off at a distance until the sea rose high enough to cover the smallest ones, giving them a path through the taller rocks which they could safely navigate. Two or three crewmen were indeed still aboard the other ship, but seeing their enemies on the prowl, they remained with the ship rather than try to catch the rope ladder still dangling from the cliff and shimmy up to see why their captain and other mates hadn’t responded since the middle of the night. That left them as nothing more than sitting ducks when the Triple-X ship maneuvered alongside and Jeet led a quick raid to board them and commandeer them. By that time the tide was at its maximum, and Abdullah climbed up to discover the full extent of their crewmates’ injuries and the prisoners they had taken. Reunions and stories could wait, they had a lot of work to do to bring the cargo of money, weapons, and ammunition aboard their own ship and then their enemies down to theirs. The Ideo Pirates crew was at full strength and eagerly fell to it, laughing and crowing in triumph as they clambered up and down the rope ladder, hauling boxes and barrels like they were feather pillows. Ideo and Bluegilly stood aside to let them since they clearly had the energy to burn, the worst of their injuries covered by their dust-streaked black jackets. As satisfying as it would have been to simply leave their enemies tied up in the cave at the top of the cliff, Ideo wasn’t feeling nearly so generous. He had already decided that they should be returned to their ship, which was done after their cache had been successfully loaded onto the Triple-X ship, and he turned a blind eye to Jeet and Abdullah fucking with their enemies by pretending to just kick them over the cliff or “accidentally” loose a rope to let them drop in a free-fall for several feet before catching it and jerking them to a stop. Once dumped aboard their ship with the remaining crew and all re-tied together in a group, lashed to each other, someone yanked the rope ladder free and let it fall into the water. Ideo ordered his men to tow the enemy ship out of the cove, and finally consented to sitting down and having something to eat. It had been a full day since he and Bluegilly had eaten anything, so even the leftovers from breakfast tasted like heaven, the two of them sat together in the galley shoving biscuits and rice and eggs into their mouths until there was nothing left to pack away. By then they had reached a good point far from the island, out in the open ocean, so Ideo brushed off his jacket and got up to go and take care of their final errand. When the ships came to rest side-by-side again, he hopped over onto the other one and strode up to the knot of pirates still sitting where they had been left. In the time it took to sail this far out from the island, they had not even attempted to get free, or if they had, their efforts had come to nothing. Ideo gestured for his crew bellied up to the railing of their ship to join him. “Strip this ship of everything useful,” he demanded gruffly. “Food, water, medical supplies, rope, sailcloth, timber – all of it.”

The other crew gaped in shock as Ideo's crew sprang over the gap and began doing exactly that, not just emptying their cargo hold but cutting down the sails and gathering up every last rope from the rigging and mast. Once it looked like they had gotten more or less everything save for their enemies’ clothing and personal effects, Ideo personally strode to the bow of the ship and picked up their anchor, hefting it almost effortlessly despite his body’s lingering weakness. He flung it over the side and then produced a knife he had taken from the plundered cache, slashing the rope which kept the anchor tied to the ship and letting it vanish into the depths of the sea. Abdullah whistled low, impressed at that level of ruthlessness. While the others climbed back aboard their ship, Ideo stepped up directly facing the enemy captain, who by the look on his face realized exactly what had been done to punish them. “I’m not gonna take your flag,” the Longarm captain said coldly, “because if I ever see it anywhere near me again, next time, I’ll gut every last one of you and sink what’s left. Get me?”

“What does it matter if we have a flag?” the other cried, his voice going shrill in panic. “You took our sails and cut the anchor, we can’t get anywhere like that!”

“That’s right.” Ideo lifted the knife and looked it over – it had been one of the weapons used against him, captured when the crew was vanquished. It wasn’t nice enough to keep. He turned his back on his foes and went to the mainmast, where he jabbed the knife into the wood almost to the hilt, leaving a couple inches of the blade still exposed. “There. Maybe if you work together and help each other, you might be able to use that to cut yourselves free. And if not, I’m perfectly fine with you keeling over dead.” He did not bother to look back at them again after that point, crossing to the rail and leaping over onto his ship and into the midst of his own fine crew. “Cut ‘em loose and set them adrift!”

“Aye, captain!” Jeet gleefully crowed, bounding excitedly to the tow rope and cutting it free. The triple-crossbones sails unfurled with a thump, catching the wind and turning them away swiftly. The enemy ship sat motionless behind them, and though a couple of his men taunted them and waved goodbye, Ideo kept his back turned and simply went into the cabin at the aft end to go lay down and rest. He had had a very long couple of days.

Bluegilly only looked back at the enemy ship falling behind once or twice before turning his attention to the crew clamoring around him, begging for the story of how they managed to defeat all those pirates and just how they got so torn up. He, too, was tired and just wanted to rest, and his head was starting to ache, so he pushed off their queries with a promise that he would tell them later, maybe at dinner when everyone could get together and hear it all at once. “After all,” he pointed out, “Ideo has just as much right to tell the story as I do, but he’s not up for it right now.”

“Yeah, where’d he go?” one of their fighting pals wondered. “That was pretty badass what he did, setting them adrift like that. Cool as you please!”

“I think I saw him go into his cabin,” another said. “That usually means he doesn’t want to be bothered.”

“So don’t bother him,” Bluegilly said crisply.

Jeet came up to the stranger still aboard their ship and shoved his face right up into his, peering suspiciously. “What about this guy? What’s his deal?”

Maxie leaned back to get away from him, though he held his ground otherwise, balling his hands into fists at his sides. He had been allowed to keep his pistol and sword, and didn’t seem to have collected any other personal effects from the raid on the other ship – all he had was the clothes on his back, a pretty average coat and capri pants and his black hat. “I was forced by those guys to join their crew against my will,” he answered, glaring back at Jeet’s closeness. “Your captain and vice-captain agreed to give me a ride out of here.”

“Among other things.” Bluegilly pushed Jeet out of the way to give him some breathing room and then stared Maxie down himself, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m sure by now you can see that we’re not your ordinary rookies. If you had designs on maybe hanging out with us for a while like you did that last crew, hoping to take back your old crew’s treasure somehow, let me nip that in the bud right here and now. We’re going straight to the nearest civilized island and cashing this in, because supplies cost beli and I’m in a spending mood.”

“Oi, oi,” Abdullah spoke up from nearby, “spending is your quartermaster’s job, not yours, vice-captain.” And as he was designated quartermaster thanks to a good head for numbers, he was extremely interested in what they were going to do with the treasure.

Maxie shook his head. “I have no right to that treasure any longer. I don’t know if Captain Colscon is alive or dead, but the rest of our crew was torn apart, it doesn’t exist anymore. Clinging to some gold and jewels because it was theirs once doesn’t do them justice if I can’t even avenge them by taking down the warlord who decimated us in the first place.”

Bluegilly softened only slightly, looked away to the side for a moment. “You got some pretty good avenging hits in against those other guys, at least. And you were a big help to us, so maybe we can pay you a cut as thanks. But if we’re gonna do that,” he added, going stern again, “you might as well just join our crew.”

Maxie looked around the half-dozen men circling him; Jeet and Abdullah looked tough and the rest appeared to be a mishmash of different fighters, which was precisely what they were, picked up thanks to their prior knowledge of one or the other league fighter in charge of the crew. He then tipped his head up to regard the flag snapping briskly at the top of the mast. “The Ideo Pirates, right? You’re not the weirdest crew I’ve ever met, there were some unique individuals in the Whitebeard fleet. But you’re just free agents, aren’t you? The only way to survive in the New World is to join up with one of the Emperors, and last I heard Big Mom was in some serious trouble and Kaidou had lost his big advantage with Joker going down.”

“That’s not the only way to survive,” Bluegilly stated sternly. “Maybe that’s how it used to be, but there’s a new player in town and he’s turning the whole system upside down. We’ve gotten aboard his ship to ride all the way to the end, to the One Piece.”

The eyes shadowed by the brim of Maxie’s hat narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Bluegilly lifted his chin proudly, though his expression remained deadly serious. “You may think we’re just a bunch of rookies, but these rookies are already part of a larger fleet. Captain Ideo happens to also be the Fourth Division Commander of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, serving the infamous Monkey D. Luffy.” Most of the crewmates around him puffed up in pride and grinned, but he forged on boldly without acknowledging them. “Unlike all those weaklings who went crawling to the emperors and warlords and bowed down to beg for their protection, we were made part of Straw Hat Luffy’s fleet as friends and comrades of the battlefield, and he lets us make our own way. Ideo and I, and the rest of these guys, are pushing ourselves to get stronger on our own so that when the time comes and our fleet has to come together again in order to back up the Straw Hats, we’ll be ready. We all want to see Straw Hat Luffy become the Pirate King, and we’ll do everything it takes to be worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with him and all the other fleet members.” His blue eyes flashed keenly. “If that’s not the kind of cause you’re interested in being a part of, we’ll drop you off at the next port and send you on your way.”

Maxie looked around at all of them and knew he was telling the truth – they wouldn’t look so smug and satisfied if it weren’t so, though he didn’t know that more than half of them had never met the fleet’s benefactor and only attached themselves to the crew out of a sense of camaraderie toward their old rivals from the fighting ring and a dissatisfaction with the tournament circuit life. That didn’t matter. What he heard from Bluegilly was all he needed to know. “I didn’t know Straw Hat Luffy had a fleet, already,” he murmured, trying to think what he had seen in the papers recently. There had been something about an alliance with Trafalgar Law…

“Most people don’t know that,” Bluegilly conceded with a shrug. “You’ve been places and seen things, right? You know what happens when the papers get wind of major news like that, so we’ve all been keeping it on the down-low. You don’t have to believe me, I’m sure it sounds fake. I mean, a bunch of guys who don’t even know how to be proper pirates, part of a secret fleet? We’ve got a few days until we reach port.” He turned and drifted off toward the aft cabins. “Take the time to get to know us, you’ll realize it’s true. You can decide then.”

The rearmost cabin of their ship belonged to the captain and vice-captain, while the rest of the crew had a separate cabin below decks. It wasn’t so that their leaders could lord it over anyone, since the cabin was actually pretty small – two berths and a desk, their trunks, and nothing else – it was so they could have specialized berths built to their unique specifications. It had cost them everything they had saved up to that point, but it was worth it so the Longarm and Longleg could sleep comfortably. Bluegilly ducked into the cabin to find Ideo already fast asleep, curled up on his side on his wide bunk with his arms in a tangle. He had only gotten as far as stripping off his jacket, he hadn’t washed or seen to his cuts and bruises. But he needed the sleep, so Bluegilly left him alone and busied himself with his own concerns, grabbing a clean shirt and slipping out to have a shower and look himself over for lingering injuries. It was crazy how much more human he felt with clean hair and a few bandages covering the scrapes to his arms and knees, and the cut across his brow cleaned and covered in a plaster. By the time he finished, though, his head was positively throbbing, so he returned to the captains’ cabin and threw himself down on his extra-long bunk, curling an arm over his head to hide his eyes from the light. He hadn’t noticed it before while they were busy taking care of business, but now that it was all over and he was back in a nice, quiet place, it felt like the Observation haki he had awakened was tweaking with his mind. He couldn’t make it work to sense things unless he consciously tried, like the presence of the people on the ship, but even while not trying he felt a low-level buzz in his head like an ambient sound in the distance, something he could neither identify nor shut off. It was difficult not to think about it while he laid there, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to rest unless he stopped thinking about it – damned either way. He tried turning his focus to Ideo’s steady breathing instead, and remembered what it was like down in that pitch-black tunnel. It sounded so much healthier now, completely back to normal, no more labored rasping from the invisible poisons seeping into their air supply. Listening to him like that, Bluegilly unconsciously began to match his rhythm, and in no time at all he had also passed out. The two of them slept the day away, none of their crew came to look after them even though every last one remained intensely curious about what had transpired. Their visitor filled them in, at least, on the fight itself, though he hadn’t seen Ideo’s use of haki and couldn’t report on that. Everything which had happened prior to put them into the state Maxie had seen, bloodied and bedraggled even before they burst out into the cave with fists and feet flying, was still a mystery to all, and would remain so for as long as the two needed their rest.

Ideo woke first, drifting naturally out of his long slumber and blinking his eyes to find that he was no longer alone in their cabin. Bluegilly still had an arm over his eyes, but he was clearly asleep, not quite but almost snoring as a matter of fact. It took him a moment, but Ideo eventually pushed himself up and sat on the edge of his bunk slowly testing his limits. He was sore all over, but not to any great degree, and was nursing a headache of his own brought on by fatigue and hunger. That was it, he finally realized, he was _hungry_ and that was what woke him. Rather than see to it, though, he was drawn to his companion, curious to see how he was faring, and shifted over into the chair at the desk which sat between their bunks. He hadn’t intended to wake Bluegilly, but no sooner had he leaned over him to have a look and that arm shifted, peeling slightly away so blue eyes could peer up at the intrusion. Ideo went still, looking a bit sheepish. “Uh. Yo.”

Bluegilly’s momentary peevishness at being disturbed melted away rapidly, replaced by a look of interest. “You’re awake.”

“Is that such a surprise?” Ideo sat back in the chair so as not to be in the way as his vice-captain sat up and ruffled his hair. It was even more unruly than usual after falling asleep with it wet. “I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“You were dead to the world,” Bluegilly murmured, rubbing his face next. “Not surprised, no, just.” He peered keenly at Ideo, then. “You still haven’t taken care of your injuries.”

“What injuries?” Ideo demurred, looking away idly. “Just a few scratches, it’s nothing.”

“Bull _shit_ it’s nothing, I was there. Here.” Bluegilly got up and grabbed the supplies he had brought in with him after bathing – a basin of water, a towel, and some clean bandages. “I swear, you’re the worst at taking care of yourself. How many times do I have to remind you? We don’t have a doctor, so if we get so much as a paper cut, it could turn into a full-blown problem if we don’t look after it.”

They had had this argument before, multiple times, so Ideo dismissed it with a huff and resigned himself to letting Bluegilly play nurse for a bit, averting his eyes like it was going to somehow damage his reputation if he sat there and watched himself get bandaged up. “When did you turn into my mother hen?” he grumbled under his breath as Bluegilly knelt on the floor between his legs.

Warm water and a firm hand on the cuts and scrapes raking across his chest and abdomen reopened them briefly, but it was crucial to getting the dirt and sweat out of them. True, it was also an excuse to get to feel up those massive muscles, but Bluegilly received the complaint with a huff of his own. “About two months ago, give or take,” he replied while he worked. “When I noticed that you have this tendency to think you’re impervious to everything.”

“I do not,” Ideo countered, finally looking down at the hands on him. Bluegilly’s eyes were still on level with his even when he was kneeling – damn Longleg – but that wasn’t the most fascinating part of him right now. “I just take the hits and keep going. That’s not impervious, that’s, uh…”

“Stubborn, cocky, and ridiculous?” the vice-captain offered.

“I was gonna say tough, but that works.”

Bluegilly snorted as he moved to wrap a bandage around the center of Ideo’s chest. “Invincible, then. Like it doesn’t matter how much damage you take, you still won’t go down.”

“That’s the mark of a champion.” Ideo leaned towards him, smirking. “What’s the matter, worried about me?”

Bluegilly huffed again as if in denial, but then picked his head up and locked his gaze on his captain’s. His blue eyes were dreadfully serious. “Of course I am. If I don’t worry, who will?”

The painfully astute remark took Ideo aback; their crew was coming together well, everyone liked one another and got along, and understood the implications of _crew_ as pirates saw it, but if he had to really think about it, he wasn’t sure the others really cared for one another – or him. The new guys were all still just acquaintances, and he hadn’t bonded with Abdullah or Jeet the way he had with Bluegilly. It reminded Ideo how few friends he had ever had, even while still on the tournament circuit, and that stung more than the first-aid care to his cuts and bruises. He quieted then and let Bluegilly work, surrendering to his treatment and offering arms and back and even face when prompted. The washing found a genuine black eye under his makeup, at which point Bluegilly just sighed and set his hands on Ideo’s thighs, bracing himself. “You really need a shower,” he complained. “Or, alternatively, I can tie a rope around your waist and kick you off the back of the ship, drag you through the ocean for a mile or two. It’ll clean you up but you’ll probably get a lot of salt in your wounds.”

Ideo bristled defensively at him. “Don’t even think about it. I’ll handle that when I’m good and ready, okay?”

Bluegilly kept him pinned to the chair for a moment longer, and then slid his arms to drape comfortably over his hips so he could lean in to brush his lips against Ideo’s jaw. “You’re a champion, all right,” he murmured to soothe his comrade’s irritation. “You got us out of there just like you promised, and with only a few cuts to show for it.”

The affection worked like nothing else did, Ideo softened and flopped his long arms over Bluegilly’s shoulders. “You did most of the work on that end,” he said somewhat modestly. “All I did was faint.”

“I couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t slapped some sense into me.” Bluegilly tipped his head to nuzzle along Ideo’s bearded chin and jaw. “Guess this is why we’re a real team, huh?”

Ideo gave a low, quiet purr. “Guess it is.” He shifted one hand up to rub the back of his comrade’s neck. “What about you, everything okay?”

“More or less, Bluegilly assured, pulling aside the collar of his clean shirt to show that he had already done his own bandaging. “Still got the shittiest headache ever, but I think that’s from the haki.”

“Really…?” Ideo frowned with a touch of worry himself. “Is that…is there anything you can even do about that?”

“Dunno.” Bluegilly leaned tiredly against him, resting his chin on the captain’s shoulder. “I mean, it’s a good thing to have. We’ll need haki if we’re gonna get any further in the New World, all of the strongest pirates have it – even the other fleet captains do. But it’s nothing if we can’t train ourselves to actually use it.”

Ideo sighed to himself and distracted himself by threading fingers through all that wild blue hair, trying to tame the cowlicks pressed into it via bed-head. “You know,” he said, “that was part of the reason I wanted to stop off at the Central Fighting Tournament headquarters. Don’t get me wrong, we picked up some great guys for the crew, but deep down I was hoping to run into somebody with a good sense of haki who could train us.”

Bluegilly hummed thoughtfully under his breath. “No such luck, though.” He laughed to himself, then, lifting his head. “Can you imagine what they would’ve thought if they heard you asking around for a haki expert? You were two-time champion without it…” The thought of Ideo fighting always turned him on a little, he breathed warmly along his comrade’s bearded jaw in interest. “…and that was a pretty big thing. If they knew you wanted it and would go so far as to ask someone to help train with it, that’d just blow their minds.”

“Big deal,” Ideo grunted, a bit petulant. “I wasn’t doing it for them. I wanted it for _us_ – for the crew, the fleet, and, well, the two of us.” Not that he didn’t think Jeet or Abdullah capable of joining them in the ranks of haki-enhanced fighters, but among their little alliance, it seemed more crucial that the captain and vice-captain gain that ability first. Now, it had happened by accident so the end result was the same, but they were still left without someone to train them. “We’ll have to train each other somehow,” he resolved. “Just like we do with our fighting skills.”

Bluegilly’s eyes searched his face, and then he erupted with a sly grin. “Just one more thing to practice when we spar. I’m down with that.”

Ideo found himself unable to stay grouchy for long when Bluegilly was giving him that look. His face eased and then he, too, grinned a moment before bending his head and kissing him firmly. After everything they went through together, all they could do was talk about their haki, but what really mattered was that he felt the greatest relief that they were both alive and well. It had looked bleak there for a while, he had been almost certain at points that their so-called adventure was going to lead one or both to the door of death rather than a seaside cliff, and here they were with only a few scratches in the end. Whatever else he felt towards this man who saved his life, who had his back and warmed his bed, Ideo would only admit to being beside himself with warm, comfortable delight that Bluegilly was still there with him, and kissed him like there was no one and nothing else in the world but him. After a long moment’s indulgence, he broke off but kept his lips grazing along his partner’s as he spoke. “I’m hungry.”

Bluegilly tried to hold back a laugh and failed. “Is that some kind of euphemism or are you really hungry?”

“No, I mean really hungry.”

“Think they’re waiting on us for dinner?”

“Hope not.” They carried out this whole conversation with lips pressed against each other’s mouths, which filled both with impish glee. “Maybe we should make ‘em wait a little longer.”

Bluegilly snickered and then pulled back for real, brushing a hand down Ideo’s bandaged chest. “They all want to hear what happened. I think we’ve made ‘em wait long enough for the story.”

Ideo’s smile vanished swiftly. “They don’t need to hear everything. Maybe the bit about the volcano, but the rest…”

“I wasn’t planning to tell them.” Bluegilly favored him with one more smooch and then gracefully pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his head for a moment and then extending a hand to help his captain up after him. “The story is, we spent hours hiking through a shitty tunnel in the pitch black and when we came out the other side, we were tired and scratched up. That’s all they need to know.”

Ideo let himself be pulled up and then stretched to grab his captain’s jacket and pull it back on. “Too right. Come on, then.”


End file.
